Lessons from Las Vegas can prevent future attacks, security expert says

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - When something like last night's shooting in Las Vegas happens, inevitably there are a number of questions about what could have been done to prevent such a tragedy.

Artists, for their part, are already speculating about how security at big events may change.

A local security expert also believes mass shootings like this can be prevented with proper planning.

As a security consultant for everything from the Mall of America to the Super Bowl, Rozin studies mass shootings like the tragedy in Las Vegas.

He says no venue, indoor or outdoor, can have 100 percent security.

But expanding security beyond the physical perimeter could minimize the potential for violence. In this case, that would include workers at nearby hotels.

"Hotel employees likely had opportunity to intervene had they been properly integrated in the security plan and trained on what to look for as far as specific suspicion indicators which would force them take action," Rozin said.

He says since Stephen Paddock had no previous contacts with police and appears to have planned the attack on his own, it would have been difficult for law enforcement to identify him as a threat before the shooting.

But hotel workers may have had a chance in the days or weeks leading up to the attack.

"Likely he surveyed the site. He knew which room he wanted to get because it had a tactical advantage," he said.

The Las Vegas shooting will force security consultants and event planners to try and prevent this particular method of attack, and believes learning from the red flags in this case will be the best way to prevent similar mass shootings in the future.

"Focus on the human and the intent behind this, that's where the true answer to prevention is," he said. "Identifying the perpetrator and stopping him before the attack is carried out, that is the true prevention."

Though in recent years there has been an unprecedented spike in acts of violence, in part because of terror groups like ISIS, he says the publicity surrounding similar attacks by people with personal motives seems to inspire copycats as well.

"It's a tragedy. It's a horrific tragedy," Mike Rozin, president of Rozin Security Consulting, said. "I can't imagine the pain, the horror the victims are going through right now."