Callahan & Blaine

Candlelight vigils continue to be held in communities across Southern California in memory of 24 residents who lost their lives during the mass shooting in Las Vegas on October 1. The victims include people from Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties who perished at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in what is being called America’s deadliest mass shooting incident, perpetrated by 64-year-old Stephen Paddock from the 32^nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort.

The Southern Californians who died that night include:

• Hannah Ahlers, 34, of Beaumont, who was a stay-at-home mother of three children.
• Carrie Barnette, 34, of Riverside, a member of the culinary team at Disney California Adventure.
• Candice Bowers, 40, of Garden Grove, who had two children and had recently adopted her niece.
• Sandy Casey, 35, of Redondo Beach, a special education teacher who is survived by her fiancé.
• Andrea Castilla, 28, of Orange, who was celebrating her birthday with family and friends.
• Austin Davis, 29, of Riverside, a pipefitter who was an only child and is survived by his parents.
• Thomas Day, Jr., 54, of Corona, who worked at his family business and is survived by adult children.
• Christiana Duarte, 22, of Torrance, a fan service associate with the Los Angeles Kings.
• Brian Fraser, 39, of La Palma, survived by his wife and four children.
• Dana Gardner, 52, of Grand Terrace, survived by a daughter and two sons.
• Angie Gomez, 20, or Riverside, the youngest of five children who was a nursing student.
• Rocio Rocha Guillen, 40, of Eastvale, survived by four children and a fiancé.
• Teresa Nicol Kimura, 38, of Placentia, survived by a sister and her parents.
• Victor Link, 55, of Aliso Viejo, survived by an adult son and fiancée.
• Pati Mestas, 67, of Menifee, survived by three children, 8 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
• Rachel Parker, 33, of Long Beach, a records technician for the Manhattan Beach Police Department.
• Jenny Parks, of Lancaster, a kindergarten teacher survived by a husband who was injured in the shooting and two children.
• Lisa Patterson, 46, of Lomita, survived by her husband and three children.
• John Phippen, 56, of Canyon Country, survived by five children.
• Melissa Ramirez, 26, of North Hollywood, who worked for the Automobile Club of Southern California.
• Jordan Rivera, 21, of La Verne, who was a student at Cal State San Bernardino.
• Christopher Roybal, 28, former Corona resident and veteran of the U.S. Navy.
• Susan Smith, 53, of Simi Valley, an elementary school office manager survived by her husband and two children.
• Michelle Vo, 34, of Los Angeles, a life insurance agent for New York Life.

Police are still searching for a motive behind the shooting and said that Paddock had scores of weapons in his hotel room at the Mandalay Bay Resort. Recently, Las Vegas casino owner Steve Wynn told Fox News that Paddock was a regular visitor to his casinos, but that reports that Paddock had a “Do Not Disturb” sign on his door for two to three days “would have triggered a whole bunch of alarms” at his hotel.

Wynn noted that his staff is trained to visually inspect a room any time they enter and that a “Do Not Disturb” sign on a door for more than 12 hours must be investigated.

Hotels may be held liable for crimes that occur on their properties if proper care is not exercised. In April 2017, Callahan & Blaine won a $3.5 million jury verdict against Holiday Inn in a case where the hotel receptionist gave a key to a sexual predator who then let himself into a hotel room and raped a 29-year-old woman.

If you or a loved one is involved in an incident that causes death or serious injury, call the Orange County personal injury attorneys at Callahan & Blaine, California’s Premier Litigation Firm.  We are one of the leading catastrophic personal injury law firms in California. In fact, Callahan & Blaine has obtained numerous record-breaking verdicts and settlements, including a $50 Million settlement against the City of Dana Point, which has been certified as the largest personal injury settlement in the history of the United States.

Callahan & Blaine also has numerous other record-breaking verdicts and settlement in Orange County, including the largest jury verdict in the history of Orange County ($934 Million), the largest class action settlement ($38 Million), the largest insurance bad faith judgment ($58 Million) and the largest employment law settlement ($38 Million).  Callahan & Blaine also has obtained personal injury settlements of $28 Million for a driver who was hit by a runaway truck wheel on the freeway,  $15.5 Million for a bicycle accident on Pacific Coast Highway,  $7.25 Million for a bus accident, $7 Million for a bicyclist who was struck by a delivery truck, and $6 Million for a bicyclist struck by an airport shuttle bus.

If you or someone you know has suffered a catastrophic injury or died as the result of an accident, please contact our Orange County law firm for expert legal counsel.