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Experts Say Tourist's Death 'A Tragic Anomaly'

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Oct. 7, 2000 -- The inadvertent killing of tourist Heather Vitarelli on Harrah's casino floor was one of the worst possible scenarios for a resort, several security experts said.

"That's a director of security's, and the family of the victim's, worst nightmare," said Ed Eckels, president of Total Security Inc. in Las Vegas and a former security chief for both the Rio and Showboat hotel-casinos.

Avoiding violence inside a casino -- and reducing liability -- was behind the trend of resorts disarming their security force over the last 10 years.

D. Anthony Nichter, a security training expert who teaches at UNLV and the Community College of Southern Nevada, said he instructs his students to let someone go if they are running away.

"If he's already in flight let it go," Nichter said. "If you chase someone through a crowded casino, chances are a you're going to knock down and hurt a patron."

For a city that is driven by the gaming industry and an industry driven by people's desire to enjoy a couple of days gambling, safety is a premium.

On Sept. 8 about 1:20 a.m. several security officers in Harrah's approached Stephen Mullen, 32, to take him into custody. The previous night casino surveillance cameras reportedly caught Mullen and his friend Michael Frimmel in the casino stealing a woman's purse, Metro Police said.

As security guards were taking Mullen into custody, he broke free and began to run through the casino. Three to five security officers tackled Mullen and tried to handcuff him. Mullen is accused of pulling a gun from his waistband and firing two shots while the security officers were trying to handcuff him. One shot hit Vitarelli in the back as she stood about 35 feet away killing her. The other hit security officer Frank Willis, 43, in the abdomen, police said.

Mullen in a jailhouse interview has admitted to the shooting, but denies he was in the casino stealing. He partly blames the security officers for the shooting by tackling him.

Harrah's officials would not comment on the incident.

"Realistically if they are armed with guns and a gun fight started, you may have had many, many more victims," said Ken Braunstein, a state-licensed casino security consultant. "I have advised my clients for years to disarm because the security officers are not highly paid enough or well enough trained to use (guns) properly."

All three security experts said they didn't know enough about the Harrah's shooting to discuss the incident but were talking about casino security in general.

But Nichter said Harrah's may want to reconsider its policies on taking suspects into custody.

All casinos hire their own security officers and decide if they carry guns, but there is no uniform training guidelines or state statutes governing minimum requirements. All someone needs to be a security officer is a work card issued by Metro after a background check.

"Security officers many times dress in a uniform and have a belt with pepper spray, handcuffs and some keys and the guy looks like cop," Braunstein said. "People look at him like he has more authority than a private citizen, but he only has as much authority as a private citizen."

Eckels and Nichter recommend security officers inside the casinos not be armed, but guards patrolling the parking lots probably should carry weapons.

"Can you imagine the devastation that could occur if security guards participated in a gun battle in a casino?" Nichter said.

But Nichter said with 35 million tourists coming to Las Vegas each year the number of violent incidents that pour over and include an innocent tourist is minimal.

"Considering all the people who come here, the casinos are sufficiently safe," he said. "That doesn't mean what happened with Mullen couldn't happen again, but with the millions of people coming in it seems that it was a tragic anomaly."

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