Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised
the moment when Police Hunt Down The deadly Hard Rock Casino Shooter.
march 25th , 2023 in hardrock casino…
this is edgar delgado and just seconds ago he fatally shot an innocent man ….
at 02:00 a.m . on march 25th ,2023, edgar delgado enters hard rock cafe…
and meets 32 year old omar garcia where they spend the next 6 hours together drinking and having a good time.
but by 8:00 a.m something begins to anger edgar.
the tension rises an argument bursts out and edgar grabs garcia worst of all he pulls out a pistol and points it directly at garcia’s head multiple times.
but garcia resists knowing his life could end at any time and physical altercations ensue.
then for one last time edgar grabs garcia by the neck and whisper something in his ear to the extent that garcia syopd resisting.
desperately garcia tries to disengage knowing that this fight is not worth his life but edgar sees his chance and pulls out his gun before garcia even has a moment to react and seconds later….
a single gunshot rings throughout the hard rock casino .
garcia had little to no chance of survival,he was shot directly in the temple and every passing second meant a step closer to death.
soon after panic erupted in the hotel,employees and residents scrambled to get a hold of authorities as doxens of 911 calls began pouring in.
immediately a team of 100 officers was put together from multiple police departements and sent to the hard rock casino and hotel.
important to note is the fact that officers have almost no information on the situation itself all they know is that was a shooting and now there is a man lying dead in front of the bar .
they also know that the hard rock casino is a massive complex with over 670 rooms and that gunman could be hiding anywhere.
with that said the shooters identity is still unknown and the officers need to treat everyone they encounter as a potential threat until confirmed otherwise.
after quickly confirming that these are innocent civilians and not the shooter ,the officers can now move towards evacuating them.
another team on the casino floor works on securing the crime scene and providing life- saving assistance to the victim.
allthough emergency were quick to respond and garcia was transported out quickly it was far too late to save him,he was pronounced dead within minutes.
worst of all, the killer was still on the loose and every second wasted meanted that officers were futher away from catching him and more innocent lives were in danger.
thats is why the team on the casino floor immediately starts gathering witness statements to try and figure out exactly what happened.
the first who was able to get a closer look at the crime scene immediately after garcia was shot .
the next witness was agirl that omar was on date with just hours before the murder.
even though this girl was praying that it wasn’t who she thought she does not know yet that it was in fact omar who was shot and has even passed away.
allthough tragic, officers have no clue what the killer looks like ,what his escape plan is and who he could possibly harm next, this is where they begin executing the last step of their response…
chasing the shooter down which begins with multiple SWAT teams initiating a wide search of the entire building.checking every hall and every corner.
at this point in time officers do not have access to any of the CCTV fotage and it is difficult for them to find out who exactly the man is let alone where he went.
but getting their hands on this footage should only be a question of time.
the security of casinos are often incredibly high ,designe to quickly deescalate dangerous situation like this .
the reason for this is part because of a shooting that happened back in las vegas in 2017.
due to the failure of that casino hotel security, they were forced to pay out $ 800 million to the victims of the shooting.
ensuring that security would be increased on all casino hotels much like this one.
police at hard rock cafe received intel that the suspect likely fled into one of the five apartements nearby on the first and second floor.
even with such extensive manpower SWAT is having a difficult time to tracking down the killer but they had one more apartment left and the individual that came face to face with was someone who could very well be the killer…
refusing to cooperate in an active shooter situation is one of the worst decisions this man could have taken ,to make things worse he mentions the presenceof someone else in the apartment.
this is why officers have to be incredibly careful in dealing with the situation because for all they know behind this door could be someone ready to shoot at them.
fortunately the apartment seemed relatively safe for officers to enter but the suspect’s behavior causes to think that he might have been in contact with the shooter and need to interview both him and his son.
from now though,this man showed no proof of being affiliated with the shooting so officers decide to move on.
but even with the five apartments searched there was no sign of the killer.
the only option officers had left was to begin searching even more rooms on the higher floors but this would cost them precious time.
time they did not have.this is why they turned to the hotel CCTV footage in hopes of getting a lead on who the man is and most importantly where he ran off to.
fortunatelly this prove to be a big brerakthrough in the case as officers soon find footage of the man running off from the crime scene.
officers had finally an image of what the suspect looked like and it was soon sent to every single team in the hotel and not even minutes later officers get a lead.
a man in the lobby who matches the image exactly.
cross referencing the image to the suspect the two are almost an exact match.
however officers are still not entirely certain and need to have a closer look before taking the next step and arresting him.
unfortunatelly this turned out to be a dead end,this was not the man that the officers were looking for and furstration clearly began to grow.
it is around this time that officers make a crucial breakthrough in the case by digging deeper into CCTV and trcking back the shooters movements -edgar julian delgado.
who checked into the hotel the day before with his girlfriend savannah tautaupale.
right after the murder , edgar is seen rushing to his room and coming out with a handful of bags savannah soon joins him and they exit the hotel .
edgar, along with his girlfriend were now on the run…..
despite the fast respnse from police edgar was able to escape because no one had a description of the suspect yet .
immediately after finding out edgar had escaped all roads and highways in the state were placed under heavy monitoring.
they were not going to let a murderer escape and while they waited for edgar to fall into their hands they began interviewing hotel employees to understand the motives behind this murder.
starting with the security guard who was present at the time of the murder- robert belles.
from what robert says the killing itself was quite a big scene at the center bar yet the response was so slow that edgar was not only given the time to escape but pack his belongings before doing so .
to make matters worse, edgar actually walked infront the security podium the point at twhich the entirety of the casino security cameras were managed by guards.
security likely decided that pursuing an armed suspect especially one responsible for a shooting was not a wise decision to make and rather opted to keep tabs on his whereabouts.
regardless it is unfortunate that edgar was given enough time to escape comfortably.
at this point ,officers move on to the next employee -Noble who gives more insight into what the two were talking about before edgar pulled a gun.
friendly banter turning into a murder is something highly unusual
there is a crucial piece of the puzzle that detectives are missing out on and the only person who can give it to them is edgar himself.
but in order to catch him officers have to be patient they already know what his car looks like from the CCTV footage.
and checkpoints have been set up on all roads leading to the hard rock casino.
this meant that it was only a matter of time before edgar fell into their hands.
and sure enough hours later edgar’s vehicle would approach one of these checkpoints near highway 50 there was no escaping anymore
and officers could finally get the answers they’ve been so desperately searching for.
even though edgar was arrested in california,he’ll still be charged under nevada law because that’s where the crime took place.
in fact california police will need to send edgar back to nevada through a process called extradition .
this is required by the extradition clause in article 4 of the USS constitution which states that if someone commits a crime in one state and flees to another they must be returned to the state where the crime occured to face trial.
this ensures that edgar is tried based on laws of the state where the crime happened and in Nevada first-degree murder results in either life without parole or 50 year sentence with the possibility of parole after 20 years.
it is chilling to see edgar act so nonchalant after taking the life of someone who whished to be friends with him ,but this esplains several of edgar’s mannerisms.
the slurred speech ,the lack of understanding,his stumbling while escaping from the casino and most importantly ,his sudden impulse to shoot garcia.
but before an interview proceeds with him detectives decide to interrogate his savannah in oder to understand edgar as a person possibly giving them invaluable evidence to charge him with murder.
it is likely that savannah genuinely did not no why she was been rushed to leave in the heat of the moment,unfortunately due edagar’s horrible decisions she’s now a an accomlice in her boyfriends escape, so either sh e tries to defiend him and risk being charged as an accomolice in murder or fess up and answer evrey question honeslty.
espcecially the ones about his past .
for now detective believes that savannah isn’t comfortable enough to reveal details and decdes to take an alternative approch by explaining the trouble she’s in and mounting some pressure there is a chance that crucial information can be squeezed out of her.
the bag that savannah mentions cotanains several of edgar’s items ,including th e weapon he used to kill garcia.
this information is what the detective uses to not only make sure that savannah is telling the truth but to found out whether this murder was premeditated or not .
under normal sircumstances it would not have been odd for edgar to carry a weapon.
this is because the worked as a security guard in santa cruz and due to the nature of his job one would expect him to be safety oriented.
if this was the case ,detectives likely would not think that the murder was premeditated and however the realit y was that carrying a weapon was unlike him as his girlfriend testifies.
if anything this had dug an even deeper grave for edgar since theere are grounds to charge him with first -degree murder.
nit edgar somehow makes the situation even worth for himself with the interview he gives one of the officers who arrested him.
this would also be where we finaly see edgar’s mental state during and after the murder.
immediately the detective sets up a safe space for edgar to talk .
considering the facts that he is drunk, these sort of questioning tactic have an instant effect on him as he begins to open up,slowly but surely edgar begins to crack, the tears begin flow and hisconsciousness starts to catch up to his actions.
with no plausible reason for his actions ,there was no escape edgar,his action were downright horrible and nothing more than him doing what ever he felt in the spure of the moment.
edgar’s girldfriend savannah went on to admit to the destruction of evidence as she lied about the present of a gun when the two were arrested she was granted a suspended 364-day jail sentence
