Van Nuys Teen Shot in Las Vegas Casino

Although we would have thought that there would be no safer place for a 13-year-old at one o'clock in the morning than a Las Vegas casino, comes news that early this morning a teen from Van Nuys was clipped by one of the ten "random" shots fired by a Vegas local.

Troy Sanchez, a 13-year-old from Van Nuys, Calif., who was wounded in the left ankle, said he heard more than 10 gunshots from a balcony over an escalator that takes customers to the casino floor.

"We thought it was fireworks," Sanchez said of himself, his mother and his older brother, a worker at the casino's Manhattan Express roller coaster who was off work at the time.

They were in a tile-floored promenade near the escalator, watching a promotional video for the roller coaster, when panicked people began pushing and running and he was wounded.

Sanchez said he didn't think he was targeted. "I didn't even see the guy at all," the teen said. "He was just firing randomly anywhere." - AP

So wait, the kid's brother works at the roller coaster but is off duty and hanging out at the roller coaster? And the teen is standing there at 12:45 a.m. watching a video about the ride? Is that freaking roller coaster that mesmerizing?

Something seems fishy here. Meanwhile some dude just walks in and starts unloading on people for no apparent reason? WTF?

Good thing all those off-duty cops and military people were there to protect anyone from getting severely injured. And good thing the suspect was such a lousy shot - 10 shots and no one was hurt.

photo by Sonny I. LaVista for LAist