Jesus Campos, the security guard injured in the Las Vegas shooting and lauded by authorities as an "absolute hero" for his efforts assisting police officers, has disappeared.
He's fallen off the radar of union leaders, backed out of media interviews, and sparked concern from neighbors who say they have no idea where he is.
Campos was shot in the leg on October 1 as he approached the door of Stephen Paddock's hotel suite at the Mandalay Bay, just moments before the gunman opened fire on thousands of concertgoers attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival, according to the latest information given by Las Vegas authorities. The massacre ultimately left 58 people dead and hundreds others injured.
Campos' disappearance comes amid a wide-ranging investigation into the shooting that has so far yielded more questions than answers, and prompted a proliferation of conspiracy theories. Investigators have still not determined a motive Paddock's deadly rampage, and Las Vegas authorities have changed their version of the shooting's timeline multiple times.
Officials said Campos was "absolutely critical" to the police response to the shooting, notifying his dispatch immediately and advising officers as they arrived.
Yet on Thursday, as union leaders sought to coordinate interviews with Campos and multiple news outlets, Campus suddenly vanished.
David Hickey, president of the Security, Police, and Fire Professionals of America union, told media that he was with Campos in a Las Vegas hotel suite on October 12, ahead of scheduled interviews with CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, and Sean Hannity's show on Fox News.
But Hickey said Campos abruptly left the suite while Hickey was meeting in a separate room with representatives from MGM Resorts. Another union member told Hickey that Campos was taken to a health clinic, but Hickey said he was unable to reach Campos after that, despite multiple attempted phone calls.
"We have had no contact with him … Clearly, somebody knows where he is," Hickey told the Los Angeles Times.
A spokesperson for UMC Quick Care, where Hickey told Fox News Campos went, said they hadn't heard anything about the security guard visiting any of their eight locations in the Las Vegas area.
When Times reporters visited Campos' reported address over the weekend, they found an armed private security guard, who declined to say who had hired him, and three "no trespassing" signs on the fence and house.
Since Monday home of @MandalayBay security guard, Jesus Campos, guarded by private security-- today armed. #LasVegasShooting pic.twitter.com/6GZgGHB1eM
— Craig Fiegener (@CraigNews3LV) October 11, 2017
"Nobody knows where he is," Campos' neighbor Jaime Ruano told the Times, adding that Campos was "a hero."
Last Friday, Sheriff Joe Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told media that Paddock likely shot Campos around 10:05 p.m., just moments before Paddock opened fire on the crowd of concertgoers through the smashed-out windows of his 32nd-floor suite.
A previous timeline that Las Vegas authorities gave just days earlier indicated that Campos had been shot at 9:59 p.m., prompting speculation over why six minutes had supposedly elapsed between Campos' shooting and Paddock's massacre. In his Friday news conference, Lombardo said that the 9:59 p.m. timestamp had been derived from a "human entry into a security log," and the information was no longer considered accurate.
Lombardo also assailed accusations that law enforcement officials were either covering up details of the shooting, or had been mistaken due to ineptitude.
"In the public space, the word 'incompetence' has been brought forward, and I am absolutely offended with that characterization," he said.
Las Vegas authorities have since sought to shut down speculation about Campos' role in the shooting.
"[Campos] is not missing. He's not under arrest. We tell people what we know. If they don't believe it but they're going to believe whatever website, then I don't know what else to tell you," LVMPD officer Larry Hadfield told the fact-checking website Snopes.
SEE ALSO: 'There is no conspiracy': Las Vegas sheriff clarifies 6-minute discrepancy in massacre timeline
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source http://www.businessinsider.com/jesus-campos-disappeared-las-vegas-shooting-security-guard-2017-10
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