Emergency vehicles line the Las Vegas strip after the shooting. Courtesy OnScene.TV
The grieving dad of a Huntington Beach woman who was gunned down in the Las Vegas country concert mass killing while celebrating her 28th birthday has sued MGM Resorts, Hollywood-based promoter Live Nation Group and the estate of her murderer.
Gus Castilla’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges negligence, battery, wrongful death and other causes of action in the Oct. 1 shooting death of his daughter, Andrea, who worked at Sephora.
Castilla also Tuesday sued Slide Fire, which allegedly made one of the bump fire stocks used by gunman Stephen Paddock in the mass shooting.
Meanwhile, Stephen Sambrano and Miguel Guerrero, who were shot and survived, are among plaintiffs in a separate proposed class-action lawsuit filed against Live Nation, MGM Resorts and the Paddock estate. Some of their fellow plaintiffs were hurt after being trampled upon while fleeing the shooting attack because there was no adequate plan for concert-goers to leave the event during an emergency, their lawsuit states.
A representative for Live Nation did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The day after the shooting, the company issued a statement saying it “will do everything in our power to support the victims and their families through the aftermath of this horrendous event.”
According to the Castilla suit, the plaintiff’s daughter heard gunshots and yelled “duck” to her sister and friends. But the woman was shot in the head and “gunfire continued to rain down during this time,” according to the complaint.
Castilla ended up being one of 58 people killed when Paddock opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. More than 500 were injured.
The two suits allege MGM and Mandalay Bay failed to take steps to keep Paddock from taking guns and ammunition to his hotel room. It also contends security failed to quickly respond to the shooting despite the wounding of one of its security guards six minutes before Paddock opened fire on the concert crowd.
Las Vegas law enforcement officials last week disputed that timeline, saying Paddock shot the security guard at about the same time he opened fire on the concert crowd through a pair of broken windows in his hotel room.
Castilla’s friends and sister had to life the wounded woman over a fence so she could be placed in the bed of a passing truck driven by a good Samaritan, the Castilla uit states.
“Andrea was breathing and humming during the ride from the venue to the hospital,” the Castilla suit states.
But the woman was separated from her rescuers at the hospital and they were unable to find any information about her condition until the next day, the Castilla suit states.
“On that day, they found out Andrea had died from the bullet wound to her head,” the Castilla suit states.
–City News Service
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