AP via MSNBC: 1 dead, 1 hurt in Las Vegas parking lot blast
Explosion occurs in parking garage behind Luxor hotel-casino
KLAS-TV Las Vegas: 1 Dead in Luxor Parking Structure Explosion
There was a deadly explosion early this morning on the top level of the parking structure located at the Luxor Hotel. The victim of the bombing was an employee of the Luxor. Another person was injured.
The explosion happened around 4 a.m. Reports were that the device was inside a backpack, which was either on the vehicle or adjacent to it.
The area is completely sealed off. Metro is on the scene. ATF agents have arrived on the scene. There are also two bomb-sniffing dogs inspecting every vehicle.
Luxor Drive is shut down both directions between Mandalay Bay and Reno.
Captain Ed Points Out That Today is May 7th and London’s 7/7 Bombings Employed Exploding Backpacks
Michelle Malkin Reminds Us That Terrorist Surveillance Videos of the Luxor Were Found in 2004 and the 9/11 Hijackers Visited Las Vegas Several Times.
After 9-11, I began to wonder if we’d see the sort of suicide attacks we routinely hear about in Israel, where Palestinian terrorists put explosives in their backpacks and kill people in crowded restaurants, buses, etc. – the kind of backpack attacks that happened in London on 7/7/05, which killed over 50 people. I used to actually get nervous if I saw a Muslim walk into a restaurant I was eating in with a backpack.
I hope that the incident in Vegas is isolated and not part of a coordinated plan for future attacks of this nature.
I guess we should get something up about this. Early reports were of a man being killed when a device in his backpack went off in the Luxor parking lot; new reports claim that it wasn’t a backpack and that it wasn’t even his. Apparently it was left on top of his car, and when he and a fellow employee got off work shortly after 4 a.m. and investigated, boom.
Anyway:
Police say the blast was not a terrorist act, but an apparent slaying with an unusual murder weapon…
There’s not much damage around the vehicle — and the hotel and casino were not evacuated.
Figure a disgruntled gambler with a grudge against the casino or maybe mafia/bookie justice for a bad debt. The unusual hour, location, and low intensity of the explosion makes it an unlikely candidate for jihad unless it’s of the freelance variety, and even then, why wouldn’t the perpetrator have walked into the casino and set it off there to maximize casualties?
MM has excellent background on terrorist interest in Vegas, though.
Update: The cops suspect the victim was the intended target.