Cubs safe after shooting, police standoff at team hotel

LAS VEGAS — Cubs players and coaches avoided by minutes a shooting incident Saturday morning outside their hotel that led to an hourslong standoff between police and the gunman.

“I didn’t know what was going on until the guys showed up [at Cashman Field],” center fielder Albert Almora said of teammates on the Cubs’ second bus, which got out just ahead of a police lockdown at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. “It’s pretty crazy.”

Pitcher Kyle Hendricks, who was on the first bus with Almora, said players on the second bus told him they were concerned they weren’t going to be allowed to leave because police already were in full response.

“It’s all good now, but it’s scary stuff,” Hendricks said.

Broadcaster Ron Coomer, who was on the second bus, said he saw police with guns drawn rushing into position almost as soon as he boarded the bus, with “15 squad cars out front” of the hotel.

“People were running out of the hotel, hundreds sprinting out of the hotel,” he said. “It was bizarre.”

But while the game was played, the hotel remained locked down while the gunman held off police from a bus outside in a standoff that finally ended late in the afternoon with the man’s arrest.

One person was killed and another injured in the shooting, according to reports.

“I was going to try and hit the casino [Saturday night],” Hendricks said. “I might just lock up in my room tonight.”

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