A security guard at a luxury apartment complex is being hailed as an everyday hero for stopping an armed gunman.
In a seldom reported incident, an armed shooter wearing a helmet, carrying an “AR-15 style rifle” was thwarted from committing a likely mass casualty event by an unidentified employee at Las Vegas’s Turnberry Towers on June 23.
Andrew Warrender, 32, who witnesses described as a “social awkward,” was a well known guest of the complex, who often stayed in his uncle’s apartment on the premises.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reported that Warrender entered the lobby around 3:15pm that Friday with a Stag 6.8.
He shot at a front desk employee, but missed and the person ducked behind the desk. Security footage showed that Warrender tried to fire again, but the bullet’s casing got stuck in the ejection port.
“Warrender appears to have a malfunction of the rifle and tries to fix it,” LVMPD wrote in a police report obtained by NBC 3 News.
“He then places the rifle back into his shoulder and again aims the rifle in the direction [of the victim] as he is crouched below the counter.”
“Warrender’s finger appeared to press the trigger but because the firearm malfunctioned, no bullet was discharged,” the department continued.
The video showed the suspect holding the rifle as he left the lobby through revolving doors, which is when he was shot several times by the security officer.
The Turnberry Towers employee told police that he was alerted to the gunman’s presence by a valet employee.
As Warrender exited the building with the rifle, the security guard shot off five to seven rounds at him.
When police responded to the scene, they found the security guard holding Warrender at gunpoint with a 9mm as he lay wounded on the ground.
The guard told officers that he “felt everyone’s life in the area was in danger” and utilized “deadly force to protect innocent citizens.”
The man said that he is not required to be armed on the job, but “chooses to do so on his own free will.”
Police initially believed that Warrender had attempted to harm his uncle prior to the act, but instead discovered that the apartment was unoccupied, but contained the rifle’s empty case.
The security guard has been hailed a “hero” by residents, but the thwarted attack has not been widely reported in the media.
Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Amy Swearer told Fox News Digital that it was “bizarre” how the media did not pick up the story on a national level, but suggested that it was because the “hero” of the hour prevented gun violence with another gun.
“Four days, and LVPD apparently doesn’t think it’s important to clarify basic facts of an incident that would probably garner national attention,” she stated.
“They’d prefer you just move along, folks, because what does it matter if a good guy with a gun saved lives?”
Warrender was charged with “assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, and discharging a gun within a structure,” according to Fox 5 Vegas.
He underwent surgery for his injuries and has been unable to appear at court hearings due to medical reasons, but is being held without bond.
