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September 2023
The Lonely Wheelchair
By: Keith Bettinger / Guest Column
October 1, 2017 will always be remembered as
Las Vegas’ day of infamy. Death and injury
rained down on music fans from the height of
the thirty-second floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, stealing the lives of
fifty-eight people and causing injury to more than five hundred others.
Survival instincts and fear gripped the attendees and performers.
People began running away from the scene as well as through open
fields being used for parking.
For those that kept running, many wound up on the McCarran
Airport runways, taking cover in the adjacent rain channels. Others
attempted to hide at the scene under bleachers or canvas canopies.
The murderer
killed himself.
The shooting
stopped, and
the sun rose
that Sunday
morning. All
anyone could
see were the
remnants of the carnage that covered a crime scene; the likes of which
few law enforcement officers had ever seen.
It would take investigators weeks to photograph, recover, inventory,
process and eventually return items to the rightful owner or their
surviving family members.
The hard packed dirt just east of the stage area was filled with cars,
trucks, trailers, buses and motor homes. The cars belonged to the
concert attendees. The trucks, buses and motor homes belonged to the
performers and their crews.
For days these vehicles did not move as evidence technicians
processed the crime scene. Eventually the evidence was gathered and
the vehicles were released.
When the field was emptied of cars and trucks and the blood was
disinfected and cleansed from the ground, just one thing remained; a
overturned wheelchair.
Looking at the wheelchair in its lonely state left one wondering and
trying to answer so many questions. Who was the occupant?
Did the person make it this far on his own only to topple over? Was
someone pushing him? Did someone carry him to safety?
Was he pulled to safety behind a parked car? Did people, terrified and
fleeing, leave him to fend for himself?
Eventually the wheelchair was no longer alone. Two evidence
technicians walked across the field, righted the wheelchair and pushed
it into the evidence processing facility.
The wheelchair was no longer alone. It joined the other evidence
waiting to be processed. But it left one important question unanswered
- WHY?
Keith Bettinger is a former police officer. He and his wife, Lynn
retired to the Las Vegas Valley 21 years ago and enjoy local
entertainment. You can email him at: keithbett@cox.net