Tilman Fertitta reacts to bloodshed on Las Vegas Strip

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Following the mass shooting in Las Vegas, we caught up with President and CEO of Landry's Inc., Tilman Fertitta.

He's known for his hotel and casino in Las Vegas, the Golden Nugget, and says he called his personnel there as soon as he saw the breaking news about the mass shooting last night.

Fertitta did not outline any immediate changes to his own properties' security measures, but says everyone has to be more vigilant.

"Here's a guy that there was no balcony, and just shot through the window. That's what's scary about this, is that this person realized -- I don't even have to be at the event. The event is hundreds of yards away, so that's scary," Fertitta continued, "There's nothing we can do to plan against this, we have to catch it before it happens. We have to pay attention to the people around us. If I go to walk into something, and I have glasses and a cell phone in my pocket that looks bulky, we have to be alright that somebody says, 'Sir, can you show me what's in your pocket?'"

We talked about searching luggage and restricting weapons, to which Fertitta replied, "We're not a police state, and nobody wants to live in a police state. Now, besides going into a ball game or going into an airline, we're going to start checking everything everybody brings into a hotel? Well, then what's going to happen? He could have walked down the street and started shooting and would have killed 30 or 40 or 50 people, so now we're going to have somebody check you when you walk out of your house?"

Fertitta says at his properties he's going to rely on what's permissible by law.

"You can't treat every day like the president is coming to town," he said.

Fertitta said may be a sign we need to pay more attention to mental illness in our country in order to stop these kind of attacks.

"Think about the 58 young people that don't get to get married, don't get to have children, but then think about their parents will never have another happy day again the rest of their lives," he said.

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