Wyoming Connection to Las Vegas Tragedy

A Powell woman lost her father in a highly publicized shooting that occurred in Las Vegas this weekend.

57-year-old Gary Breitling from Sidney, Montana was killed in an apparently random shooting while riding a double decker bus on the Las Vegas Strip Saturday. Breitling was the father of Lisa Lara, who lives in Powell with her husband Brett. Breitling’s family told Fox 5 news in Las Vegas that he was, quote, “a loving husband, father, and grandfather… Friends remembered him as a happy person who made those around him smile”. Endquote.

Rolando Cardenas, 55 years old, was charged with open murder with use of a firearm, attempted murder with use of a firearm, burglary while in possession of a firearm and discharging a gun within a vehicle, according to a news release issued by police on Sunday.

Police say Cardenas was riding a public double-decker bus. At some point he got up and fired off several rounds from a handgun, shooting two people, including Breitling. Cardenas then barricaded himself in the bus, resulting in the closure of a significant part of the strip between the Bellagio and Cosmopolitan hotels. The suspect surrendered peacefully to police after a four-hour-long standoff.

Breitling was taken to University Medical Center of Southern Nevada where he was pronounced dead at 11:30 a.m., according to the Clark County Coroner in Las Vegas. The coroner found the cause of death to be a gun shot wound to the left-side of the chest.