Fight panic: Crowd mistakes sounds for shots

Karen Zekan

Monday, June 30, 1997 | 4:17 a.m.

Champagne bottles and glasses, not bullets, are being blamed for the popping sounds that panicked thousands of fight fans and MGM Grand hotel-casino guests into a stampede that left dozens injured.

Despite ongoing rumors of gun-wielding ruffians and hints of gunpowder in the hotel's lobby following Saturday's heavyweight rematch between champion Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson, Metro Police and MGM officials were still insisting that Saturday's 10:35 p.m. chaos did not include a shooting.

"We're running down all the leads we've received, but there are no bullet holes, no victims with wounds consistent with having been shot, no shells," said Sgt. Will Minor.

Police and hotel officials have reviewed videotape from the surveillance cameras and have determined that the most probable cause for the popping sounds were metal barriers, glasses and bottles that were knocked over.

A sold-out crowd of 16,331 people attended the championship fight in the MGM Grand Garden. Many of them were on the property or heading to the garage when at least one of several spectators involved in an altercation in the lobby started yelling about a gun.

"The crowd panicked and began running in all directions," Minor said.

The mass scatter saw 45 people injured, among them a woman with a fractured ankle.

No one was treated for a gunshot wound, said Cathy Hayes, spokeswoman for Mercy Ambulance.

Hayes said at least 20 people were treated at the scene and released. Twenty-five more were taken by ambulance to various hospitals. They included: 13 to Desert Springs, eight to Columbia-Sunrise Hospital, one to Valley Hospital and three to University Medical Center. Included were two people who had heart attacks, one who had a broken leg, but "most had minor leg injuries," Hayes said.

Paramedics were seen ducking for cover behind gurneys, baccarat players jumped beneath game tables, and one man hopped out of the fracas and onto the hotel's registration desk, witnesses said.

Minor said that more than 240 Metro officers had fight duty Saturday night, and many of those in plain clothes were believed to be the people spectators reported seeing drawing their guns.

But one unidentified man carrying a revolver was wrestled to the ground and then escorted out the hotel's front door.

Gambling was shut down for almost two hours, shortly after an unconfirmed report that one of MGM's 21 tables was knocked over during the minutes of bedlam and people in the crowd tried to grab the fallen chips.

MGM Grand spokesman Jack Leon declined to comment on the financial impact of the disruption, saying only, "Portions of the casino were closed for a few hours, but everything was back to normal and in full operation by late in the morning."

An official count on the number of arrests Metro made after the fight was not available.

Minor said Tyson will probably not be charged for swinging at one of several Metro officers who jumped in the ring to stop a near-riot when Tyson was disqualified for twice biting Holyfield's ears.

"There was a lot of emotion going on," Minor said regarding the swarming crowds in and out of the ring.

"It was a melee in there. We got in there, quickly got things under control, and did our escorts. At this point, no, it doesn't appear that (Tyson) will be charged."

MGM officials declined to comment on Saturday's stampede nor its relationship with Tyson. MGM has one fight left on a six-fight contract with Tyson.

Metro met throngs of angry people out on the street while forcing pedestrians away from the MGM property for at least an hour during an attempt to clear the lobby. A two-block area outside the casino, including the parking lot, along Tropicana was also temporarily blocked off as a safety measure, authorities said.