Gunshot fears provoke MGM Grand stampede

      Panic broke out Saturday night at the MGM Grand Hotel when guests thought they heard gunshots following the Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson bout, and 50 people were injured in the ensuing stampede.
      At midnight -- about an hour after the stampede and three hours after the fight -- the gaming tables were empty, guards watched the slot machines, and the bars were closed. Gambling was halted for a couple of hours in the wake of the bedlam.
      More than 200 Las Vegas police officers and security guards worked to clear the jammed hotel lobby as people ran through hallways. Restaurants in the 5,005-room hotel shut their doors to keep unwanted people out.
      An MGM employee who asked not to be identified said dealers saw shots fired and took cover under their tables with customers. "People were stealing chips," she said. "They were tipping over tables to get at the money."
      Yet police insisted no shots were fired at the MGM Grand or anywhere on the Strip.
      An MGM spokesman said the panic was not warranted.
      Bill Doak, director of public relations at the MGM, said no shots were fired on the property. "Metro thinks a champagne bottle had uncorked in the lobby, and people thought it was gunshots and panicked and rushed to the doors, and this caused some minor injuries."
      Las Vegas police Lt. Gary Schofield said a metal barricade used for crowd control in front of the hotel tipped over and made a sound like gunfire.
      Police Sgt. R.S. Swift said the sound "panicked the people, and it went downhill from there."
      Kathy Hayes, spokeswoman for Mercy Ambulance, said three units and two supervisors established a triage unit behind the MGM to treat the injured. "They were mostly minor injuries," she said, adding that 11 people were transported to local hospitals. One of the people suffered a heart attack.
      The Nevada Highway Patrol shut down a two-block portion of the Strip from Tropicana Avenue to Koval Lane until shortly after midnight, said trooper Steve Harney. "It was a precautionary measure," he added.
      "We thought about what happened at the last fight and didn't want that to happen again," he said.
      After the Sept. 7, 1996, fight at the MGM between Bruce Seldon and Tyson, rap singer Tupac Shakur was shot near the Strip. He died several days later from his injuries.
      Saturday night, MGM security guards restricted access into and out of the hotel. Minor said that police were trying to move people away from the scene.
      Inside the hotel, MGM Grand President Dan Wade huddled with owner Kirk Kerkorian. Wade ushered Kerkorian away when reporters tried to question him about incident.
      Mark Harvey, a tourist from Chicago staying at the MGM, said he witnessed the beginning of the melee.
      "I saw two big guys pushing each other in the lobby," Harvey said. "Security was trying to break them up. All of a sudden three other guys jumped in, and it was four on one.
      "Then I heard someone yell, 'A gun, he's got a gun.' The police drew their guns. They yelled, 'Hit the floor.' And everybody did that. The police all had their guns up and ready," Harvey said.
      Ethel Kinghouse, also from Chicago, said the incident started about 10:45 p.m. in the main casino area when a fight broke out near the slot machines. "There was a stampede. The guards drew their guns ... We had to get under the stools. Security was everywhere.
      "They don't have to worry about me coming back to another fight. I wouldn't come back if they paid me," Kinghouse said.
      Her friend, Crystal Morgan, also of Chicago, said the people moved so quick, "All you could see ... was dust."
      Dr. Doug Yarris, a Los Angeles dentist, said as he and a friend were leaving the MGM Grand Garden and walking through the hotel lobby near the registration desk, they heard what they thought were gunshots.
      "We were right there," Yarris said. "There seemed to be thousands of people walking through. And I distinctly heard a 'pop, pop, pop, pop.' And it was just bedlam."
      He said Tyson was standing in a hallway about 100 yards away signing autographs.
      "There were a lot of people with guns who were not security," said Yarris' friend, Lisa McCullough from Napa, Calif., who said she is a stunt double for Sharon Stone in her new film, "Sphere."
      The bedlam on the Strip made for an even busier night at University Medical Center. A spokesman there said the night was relatively quiet until the boxing match ended.
      "Now they're just pouring in, the trauma unit's full, we've got gunshot wounds, stabbings, traffic injuries," he said. "And when the heavy metal concert (Ozzfest) gets out, it'll be another onslaught."
     Review-Journal writers Kevin Iole, Joe Hawk, John Katsilometes, Caren Benjamin, Joe Lowell and Adam Steinhauer contributed to this report.