MGM sues victims of Las Vegas shooting

World
Europe

MGM Resorts International, owner of Las Vegas casino Mandalay Bay, is suing over 1,000 victims of a deadly mass shooting that took place last October near its hotel, US media reports said Tuesday.

The lawsuits were filed last week in Nevada and neighboring California and argue the company, which also owns the venue where the shooting took place, has "no liability of any kind" for the attack, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

It added the lawsuits were intended to seek a "timely resolution" for people affected.

A total of 58 people were killed and hundreds more were injured on October 1, 2017 when a gunman started firing into the crowd at a country music festival from a 32nd-floor suite at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

This made it the deadliest shooting in modern US history. The shooter, Stephen Paddock, 64, later killed himself.

People tend to the wounded after a shooting near the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 1, 2017. /VCG Photo

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, MGM is not seeking money but wants to ensure that any claims made by victims against the company are dismissed.

Some 2,500 people, including survivors of the shooting and relatives of those killed, are suing or have threatened to sue MGM, according to media reports.

"Years of drawn out litigation and hearings are not in the best interest of victims, the community and those still healing," Debra DeShong, a spokeswoman for MGM Resorts, said in a statement.

A lawyer representing some of the victims, Robert Eglet, however blasted MGM’s lawsuits as "the most outrageous thing I have ever seen" in 30 years of practice.

Victims support group Route 91 Strong also criticized the move. "Rather than supporting victims, MGM is re-victimizing them," the group was quoted as saying by NPR. "This is not helping survivors heal, and it is not helping Las Vegas heal."

(Top picture: The site of the Route 91 music festival mass shooting outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 2, 2017. /VCG Photo)