It has been 16 months since the Bellagio poker room was first robbed, and this second time it was robbed on March 15, Friday evening. Unlike the first robbery wherein the suspect remains at large, this time the suspect was apprehended.
Police say that around 9:45pm on Friday, an unidentified man entered the Bellagio poker room holding a gun and demanded cash from the cashier cage. How much money or casino chips he got was unknown. Afterwards, the robber went out from the north casino entrance and attempted to steal a getaway car from a guest using the valet.
That's the time when four police officers arrived and engaged with the robber. The suspect shot one of them, striking him in the chest. Fortunately for the officer, he was wearing a bulletproof vest. A second officer returned fire, successfully hitting the robber once but enough to cause fatal injuries. He was taken to the University Medical Center in critical condition. Thanks to the bulletproof vest, the officer who was shot is expected to survive after treatment from minor injuries.
Following LVMPD policy, they will only reveal the names of the officers involved after 48 hours.
The Bellagio poker room is typically always jam-packed on Friday evenings. Many well-known poker players can be found playing inside Bobby's Room, an exclusive high-stakes room.
Poker players who were at the Bellagio shared their experiences via Twitter.
Rick Fuller, a former police officer who has been playing poker for over a decade, took a picture after the incident.
Eli Elezra, a reg in Bobby's Room, posted a photo showing him near the cage where it had been robbed a few minutes before.
An update by a police spokesman Officer Aden Ocampo-Gomez revealed that the robbery suspect died while being treated in the hospital.
Sixteen months ago around mid-afternoon, an armed man wearing a blonde wig and glasses stepped into the Bellagio poker room. He escaped and still remains at large to this day after robbing an undisclosed amount of casino chips and money.
In 2010, Anthony Carleo robbed the Bellagio of $1.5 million in chips. He was caught and sentenced to 3 to 11 years behind bars.
Source:
https://fox8.com/2019/03/16/las-vegas-police-man-attempts-oceans-11-heist-at-bellagio-hotel-and-casino/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bellagio-las-vegas-shooting-suspect-dead-robbery-attempt/
