Las Vegas — According to 911 conversations obtained by 8 News Now investigators on Wednesday, the man Metro police suspect of planning a mass shooting at a Las Vegas gym urged a patron to leave before killing an employee.
On Friday, May 16, Daniel Ortega, 34, killed Edgar Quinonez, 31, in a shooting at the Las Vegas Athletic Club on Rainbow Boulevard near Vegas Drive. Metro cops shot and killed Ortega as he fled the storefront. Three more persons were hurt in the shooting.
More than 30 people phoned 911 during the more than 90-minute audio recording uncovered by 8 News Now investigators on Wednesday.
Ortega, equipped with an Olympic Arms PCR-223 caliber rifle and “multiple” ammunition magazines, strolled past numerous people exiting the gym before approaching an employee at the front desk. According to police, Ortega then began to “pace” around the front desk while many other customers exited the establishment.
One call featured a woman telling a dispatcher that her husband interacted with Ortega as the two men came into the gym.
“They exchanged some words, and then the shooter told him to leave,” she continued. “Then he heard shots. I guess the guy went in with the pistol, and my husband glanced at him and said. ‘Is that real?’ And the guy answered, ‘No, it’s fake,’ then pointed it at him and said, ‘No, it’s real, you should leave.'”
The individual who spoke with Ortega later spoke with the dispatcher, stating that he believed something was wrong.
“The way he was dressed, I assumed he was a cop or something,” the man subsequently told police. “No one was doing anything. Nobody was flipping out or anything. Nobody was acting strangely.
“He just told you to leave?” the dispatcher inquired.
“I just hid behind the pillar because I didn’t know what was going on,” a man stated. “He kept walking in and said, ‘No, it’s fake, but you should get out of here.'”
Several 911 calls record the sound of gunfire. Ortega allegedly fired 24 bullets before his pistol malfunctioned.
One person stuck in an office near the gym’s entrance described Ortega to a dispatcher as “wandering around” before settling in a chair with a shotgun in his hand.
Several others told dispatchers that they were hiding in offices, closets, or bathrooms as Ortega moved through part of the facility.
“The gym is full of people,” another caller informed a dispatcher as she sheltered in a closet. “He has a massive, long gun. I’m not sure what kind of gun it is.
“He was by himself,” a caller said, implying that Ortega may have intended to target Quinonez. “The point is, when he entered, he commanded me to move. Like, he didn’t shoot me. He just says, ‘Get out of the way. “You’d better move.”
According to one employee who contacted 911, the gym was filled with up to 150 members and at least 10 employees.
Several people contacted 911 from the building’s rooftop.
“I just ran,” one caller explained.
Another person called 911, and a car took him to the hospital.
“I am on my way to the hospital,” the caller explained. “It was so many different shots, and people started running.”
During a news conference about the officer-involved shooting, LVMPD Assistant Sheriff Jamie Prosser stated that the rifle’s malfunction “saved the incident from being a mass-casualty event.”
Police said the investigation into a possible motive is still ongoing. Ortega was a gym member who worked out there, but he had no known connection to Quinonez, according to Prosser.