Las Vegas Residents Feared They Would Be Target of Mass Shooting

LAS VEGAS — The thought could come on subtly, as a queasy feeling, when some other city came under the gun. Or it could be delivered bluntly, in the words of a stranger visiting Las Vegas, like the one who rode in the back of a cab a few weeks ago.
"He told me, 'You know Vegas is a target,'" cab driver Ramiro Berdiago said. "He said: 'You know it's going to happen here. Vegas is next.'"
Berdiago said he does not recall much about the passenger, only that he wore a Hawaiian shirt and was leaving the Mirage Hotel and Casino for a flight on Hawaiian Airlines. In the cab driver's mind, the man leaving town was not connected to the horrific shooting that terrorized Las Vegas late Sunday. He was just another customer musing about the sometimes-bleak state of the world.
Image: Las Vegas Strip
Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
Berdiago recalled that the passenger asked about a black security fence that divides pedestrians and drivers along Las Vegas Boulevard. The conversation led to his prediction about some kind of attack in the desert city.
He talked about how it seems that danger can loom anywhere and everywhere.
"We are a target because of the size [of the city] and all of the tourists who are here," Berdiago said Tuesday, two days after the shooting that has so far left 59 people dead. At the same time, Berdiago said, "I really didn't think anything of it. It could really happen anywhere."

• James Rainey