Remarks During a Meeting With First Responders to the Shootings in Las Vegas, Nevada

[The President's remarks were joined in progress.]

The President. ——and he would have used it if you didn't get there sooner.

Clark County, NV, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo. Oh, absolutely.

The President. He was looking to use it.

Sheriff Lombardo. I think just that interaction saved hundreds and hundreds of lives.

The President. Well, I want to congratulate you on a job well done, and it's a—the professionalism. I just left the hospital, and I have to tell you the doctors, the nurses, everybody over there was incredible, and at numerous hospitals.

Sheriff Lombardo. Thank you for doing that.

The President. Well, they were really—I met a lot of the patients. And you saved them, and the doctors, nurses, all of the people at the hospital saved them. Cab drivers were great. Cab drivers were asking people—telling people, get out of the car. And they were grabbing—one instance where a young woman said the cab driver just threw people out of the car and said, look—hopped in and took them to the hospital. There's really a lot of stories that are great heroism.

Sheriff Lombardo. Absolutely.

The President. Tremendous number of stories. But what the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police did is—but I've always known you were good, right? [Laughter] You know that, Joe. I've always known you guys were good, but you really proved it.

And he's a sick, demented man. Have they been able to find out anything else? It's a little bit soon?

Sheriff Lombardo. Still a little bit soon. We have a couple good leads, and we're working our way through that. We're going to get the answers.

The President. Yes, no, there might be something there. But the wires are screwed up, but there might be something there.

Well, again, I'm going to say a few words to your group, but I just wanted to come in and say hello and congratulate you. I was a fan before this; you know that. Everyone in this room knows that. A big fan before this. And I guess, if you could be more of a fan, I guess I'm even more of a fan now. But you showed the world, and the world is watching. And you showed what professionalism is all about, because that was about as fast—you know, something like that could take place for hours and hours and hours, and you can't figure it out. And you should be very proud, Sheriff.

Sheriff Lombardo. Well, just a matter of identification, Officer Hancock there at the end, to your right there, he was the first SWAT officer to engage the individual. And then, Officer Bitsko there, the K-9 officer that assisted with that initial engagement. Officer Morris and Officer Burt there were the two officers I described that were partnered with the security guard, sir.

The President. He did a good job, didn't he? He did a good job. Now, his option would have been try to do it himself. But if it doesn't work, you wouldn't have had the information, maybe, right?

Participant. Right.

The President. He did the right thing.

Participant. He did. We relied on him for the information.

The President. That's great. That's really great.

Sherriff Lombardo. So everyone else, seated behind the press there, were integral in saving numerous lives. The gentleman right to your left, that firefighter right there, was off duty and watching the concert and remained to save several lives.

So I think it's important for you to know that every single person in here was instrumental in lifesaving measures. And these two young ladies here were our dispatchers, so they're probably the most important people in the room——

The President. Calm and strong and sharp.

Sherriff Lombardo. If you ever have the opportunity to listen to the radio traffic, these two young ladies were amazing. There was a third young lady, but she decided to go to Cabo.

Participant. She needed a break—[laughter]—and a margarita.