Alleged Mass Shooting at Stanley Cup Thwarted

Las Vegas police arrested a man hours before the start of the Stanley Cup final after he made multiple statements online threatening a mass shooting at the event, local news outlet KLAS reported.

According to local law enforcement, officers on Tuesday responded to a call from a business that reported a person later identified as Matthew DeSavio, 33, as having threatened an attack on the T-Mobile Arena, which was hosting the final game of the Stanley Cup that night. Officers later arrested DeSavio after he showed up at that business.

KLAS reported that police found multiple threatening statements allegedly made by DeSavio online.

“I’m coming for you guys tonight and I hope you get every [expletive] police officer in Vegas Golden Knights there to defend you!” one message said, according to KLAS. “Hope Sin City is ready for the Mandalay Bay massacre part duex.” (sic)

Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino was the site of the Oct. 1, 2017 mass shooting in which 58 people were killed during the Route 91 Harvest Festival. DeSavio reportedly referenced this date in another post that read, “I warned y’all October 1st was just a preview,” and in a Facebook post, DeSavio “[claimed] to want to conduct a mass shooting at T-Mobile Arena,” according to police.

KLAS reported that according to police documents, “As patrol officers were placing DeSavio into the patrol car, DeSavio declared several excited utterances asking if anyone had seen his Facebook posts yet and that the Knights need to win by a certain amount or he will do a repeat of the Mandalay Bay 1 October shooting.”

According to The Hill, DeSavio was previously arrested after reportedly writing on Facebook: “Something big is about to hit the Vegas Strip. #October1stwasjustapreview! Let’s [expletive] [expletive] up before I literally #blowup Paradise NV.”

DeSavio was ordered in November to undergo a competency evaluation, but a judge found in March that the state failed to transport him to receive behavioral health treatment in a timely manner after he spent more than 75 days waiting. The judge dismissed the charges against DeSavio and ordered his release after he spent eight more days in custody after the March hearing.