LAS VEGAS (AP) – The fountains at the Bellagio casino went off like clockwork, the water swaying and pulsating in time to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.”
Two faux showgirls in pink headdresses tried to hustle a few dollars off tourists gathered to watch. A group of men drinking beers stopped briefly to ogle the action and take pictures.
Just days after a gunman killed 59 people at an outdoor concert, the party in Las Vegas seemed to be back on.
“I feel like we kind of mourned yesterday,” said Tre Marino, a landscaper from Asheville, North Carolina, who was playing table shuffleboard Tuesday evening with friends at a bar across from the MGM Grand hotel. “We were definitely a little down yesterday and just hung by the pool. But this is Vegas.”
It’s not as if the famous Strip ignored the massacre by a 64-year-old retired accountant who killed himself as police closed in. The black-trimmed hotel marquees asked for prayers for the victims and offered thanks to first responders. A small makeshift memorial was set up outside the Bellagio and at the famous roadside sign that welcomes tourists to “fabulous Las Vegas.” And there were far more police officers than usual, with a handful clustered on the sidewalk in front of almost every resort.