Police surround Vegas as tourists gather for New Year's

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sporting glittery hats, tiaras and other 2018-themed paraphernalia, tourists gathered Sunday in Las Vegas to ring in the new year under the close eye of law enforcement just three months after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history rattled the city.

Tourism officials expected New Year's Eve to pack in about 330,000 people on the Las Vegas Strip and downtown's Fremont Street. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department had every officer working Sunday and was aided by the Nevada National Guard and federal agents.

"One bad incident is not going to deter us from having a good time," Honolulu resident Pettra Stark, who planned her trip after the Oct. 1 shooting, said while standing underneath the massive video canopy on Fremont Street.

For Stark, the heavy presence of armed officers was reassuring. But not everyone felt the same way, including Adrian Dominguez, who traveled for the festivities with 10 other relatives.

"It's not pleasant to see so many officers," Dominguez, a resident of the northern Mexico border city of Ciudad Juarez. "They are everywhere."

The heightened security comes after a high-stakes gambler killed 58 and injured hundreds more after he shattered the windows of his suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino on the Strip and unleashed gunfire on a country music festival below. He then killed himself.

On Saturday, two security guards were fatally shot while investigating a disturbance at Arizona Charlie's Decatur, a hotel-casino just west of the Strip. The suspect was hospitalized with a self-inflicted gunshot wound and is not expected to survive, police said. Authorities described it as an isolated incident and assured that it was not terrorism-related.

New Year's Eve festivities at this gambling oasis are anchored by a roughly eight-minute fireworks display at the top of seven casino-hotels. Some of the biggest names in music including Bruno Mars and Britney Spears had shows scheduled on venues on the Strip, while several bands performed throughout the night on Fremont Street.

Strollers, backpacks, large bags, coolers and glass bottles were banned from the Strip for the night.

The coordinated fireworks show is scheduled to start 10 seconds before midnight at the Stratosphere. Fireworks will be launched from the Venetian, Treasure Island, Caesars Palace, Planet Hollywood, Aria and MGM Grand.

New Year's Eve is worth an estimated $254.3 million to Las Vegas, according to the city's Convention and Visitors Authority. More than 97 percent of the destination's nearly 149,000 hotel and motel rooms are expected to be booked.

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