Shooting in Front of Bellagio
Late Sunday night, the usually bustling Las Vegas Strip was rocked by a violent incident outside one of its most famous landmarks. The shooting took place in front of the world-renowned Bellagio fountains, just steps away from where the 2025 World Series of Poker is being held. According to videos circulating on social media, a man wearing a white cap and sunglasses pulled out a firearm, fired several shots, and then took off running as bystanders fled in panic.
Police officers patrolling the area responded immediately after hearing the gunfire at around 10:40 p.m. local time. Members of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) quickly cordoned off the section of the Strip in front of Bellagio and neighboring casinos. "We're responding to a shooting in the 3600 block of South Las Vegas Boulevard. The incident did not take place inside a casino. Please avoid the area," the department announced on social media platform X.
At the scene, two people were found on the ground suffering from gunshot wounds. Despite the swift response by emergency services, both victims were pronounced dead. Police soon took a suspect into custody, emphasizing that this appeared to be an isolated incident. Later investigation revealed that the 41-year-old shooter, Manuel “Sin City Manny” Ruiz, knew at least one of the victims, with a history of social media disputes between them. Media outlets reported that the dispute may have involved well-known local YouTubers, ultimately escalating into real-life violence. In fact, during the attack itself, “Finny Da Legend” was livestreaming on his YouTube channel—allowing viewers to witness the assault by the man in the white cap in real time.
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— Las Vegas Locally 🌴 (@LasVegasLocally) June 9, 2025
WSOP Plays On, Mood on Edge
Although the police temporarily shut down nearby streets to vehicles and pedestrians to conduct their investigation, action at the WSOP continued as scheduled just across the street at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos. Sunday’s events went ahead uninterrupted, and for some time, most players at the tables were unaware of the chaos unfolding outside. "The World Series of Poker festival goes on; nothing here was stopped. There are just a lot of cops outside Bellagio," several on-site participants reported. Even inside Bellagio itself, where the Mixed Game Festival XI was taking place simultaneously, poker play continued without disruption.
Still, the nighttime poker atmosphere was unavoidably affected. Once word of the shooting spread, many players and visitors reported feelings of unease—safety became the leading topic of conversation around the tables and in the premises. WSOP organizers monitored the situation closely with casino security teams. Because the shooting occurred outside the tournament areas and was identified by police as an isolated event, there was no order to stop play or evacuate the facilities. However, security presence was noticeably increased at casino entrances, and event staff remained on alert throughout the night.
Poker Community Reacts Across Social Media
News of the shooting spread through the poker world almost instantly. Social media was flooded with videos and eyewitness accounts from the scene—although many of these posts were later removed due to their graphic nature. Even livestream footage from YouTube showing the event’s aftermath was swiftly taken down. American poker pro Asher Conniff, a finalist in the 2022 WSOP Main Event, posted shortly after the shooting: "It looks like there’s an active shooter situation outside Bellagio. Dozens of police cars and officers with long guns. Be careful and avoid the Strip."
Similar warnings and calls for caution were posted by other players and members of the poker community, many of whom were in Las Vegas at the time. For a number of WSOP veterans, the incident brought unsettling flashbacks to the summer of 2022, when false rumors of an active shooter spread across the Strip, triggering panic inside crowded poker rooms and resulting in minor injuries as people rushed to safety. This time, fortunately, there was no panic inside the tournament venues.
“It’s terrifying that this wasn’t a false alarm this time, but an actual tragedy outside,” wrote one user on the TwoPlusTwo poker forum. Others expressed relief that the shooting wasn’t connected to the festival itself and didn't impact random tourists on a larger scale. Las Vegas police continued their investigation in the hours and days following the incident. According to the latest reports, authorities have confirmed that the shooter and at least one victim knew each other and that the tragedy grew out of a prior online dispute.
Sources: People, PokerNews, Brobible, WSOP, News3lv