Is Mandalay Bay Security Guard Jesus Campos... Dead?
Credit: SPFPA
On October 1st, 2017, suspected gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire on Route 91 Harvest Festival concert-goers from his room in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, leaving 58 people dead and injuring nearly 500. Since then, both the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and FBI have been giving "updates" during press conferences, but the timeline and details presented to the public keep changing, raising further suspicion to those interested in learning about what really happened before, during and after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
Watch LVMPD Sheriff Joe Lombardo's latest media briefing below (10/13/2017):
The mysterious and elusive Mandalay Bay security guard, Jesus Campos, who was shot by Paddock prior to the massacre has yet to be interviewed by any news outlets, but received an award for bravery by the International Union, Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA) on October 10th. Pictures were taken during this event, but some online vigilante investigators are raising questions about Campos' demeanor, even claiming he might in fact be... dead (see "Weekend at Bernie's").
Let's take a look at some unedited photos from the SPFPA event (Campos is wearing a badge around his neck; credit: spfpa.org):
Next, let's see what some online users are saying about the reason why he hasn't given any interviews and also the claim that he is actually dead and being "propped up" (source):
"He might just be shell shocked from the event; probably didn't think he was getting out alive."
"He got shot, too shaken to speak on national TV. That's the simplest reason for his absence."
"They killed Campos, rigged his corpse up and posed with it."
That last comment included a picture showing a red circle drawn around an apparent anomaly, which can also be seen in the original unedited photo:
Upon closer inspection, it appears this black "blotch" is just part of his suit jacket, which is being shifted to an odd angle due to the positioning of his right hand while holding the award he received.
More comments:
"In this pic, his eyes are clearly focused on nothing, he's stiff as a rock, partially falling over and his hands are in a very awkward position; right wrist curling in while resting on table, another arm prop up."
"What's with all the hands on each other in every photo?"
"This is how he looked when he was alive, which interestingly seems to be blown up from an ID... So, the only pic we have of him before looking like a corpse came from his wallet that night."
Credit: 4chan
"On a side note, this used to be done in WWII. The Nazis would claim X Soviet hero/sniper was killed in action. The Soviets would prop up the body and take pictures, then say they survived. It's all hearsay, but it's a possibility. Also, this same technique was used during the 1800s with family members and, ironically enough, fugitive outlaws. They were called memento mori or something."
Credit: 4chan
Long exposures when taking photographs meant that the dead were often seen more sharply than the slightly-blurred living, because of their lack of movement (Credit: BBC)
Fox News recently posted a story titled "Las Vegas security guard Jesus Campos disappears moments before TV interviews" which starts with "Where in the world is Jesus Campos?"
The article further states:
"The Mandalay Bay security guard shot by Stephen Paddock in the moments leading up to the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history was set to break his silence Thursday night with five television interviews, including one on Fox News, Campos' union president said.
"Except when the cameras were about to roll, and media gathered in the building to talk to him, Campos reportedly bolted, and, as of early Friday morning, it wasn't immediately clear where he was."
“We were in a room and we came out and he was gone,” Campos' union president told reporters, according to ABC News’ Stephanie Wash.
To truly quell the onslaught of conspiracy theories related to the Las Vegas tragedy, law enforcement officials need to stay consistent with the facts they present to the public and/or come clean about any other important details that may have been omitted so far.
Until then, we can expect more theories on the five Ws (who, what, where, when and why) of this particular case.
