Law enforcement and top casino security personnel are scheduled to gather Thursday for a closed monthly meeting, where the deadly shooting rampage Sunday night is expected to overshadow the agenda.

The security briefings typically include industry representatives, as well as officials from the FBI and Metro, according to C. David Shepherd, a retired FBI agent and a former security director at the Venetian Resort Hotel & Casino. The group’s purpose is to share intelligence and discuss security challenges at properties, from public health issues to wrongdoing. Shepherd told The Nevada Independent that he had been attending these monthly meetings for about two decades.

“The agenda has changed based on the events,” he said, noting that the meetings usually focus on whatever is most pressing. “They haven’t done it in writing. They will do it when we walk in.”

Casinos and law enforcement have long known that the Strip, an open and crowded environment by design, was a potential target. Security along the city’s main tourism corridor and Nevada’s economic engine is high and often hidden in plain sight. In most properties, teams of personnel monitor guests with an extensive web of cameras that spot cheating or signs of odd behavior.

But after the shooting on Sunday night, the deadliest in modern U.S. history, casinos are facing new questions about security. On Monday, Wynn Las Vegas and the Encore began scanning guests and checking bags. In Macau, regulators called six companies, telling them to continue strengthening security, according to a government notice reported by Bloomberg.

Since the shooting, businesses have reached out to local security experts. Two consultants said that they couldn’t comment on security issues because they were too close to the situation.  

“This is the biggest thing that has struck this town ever,” said Lenny Davis, a Las Vegas-based security consultant and a retired federal agent with U.S. Customs. Davis has also worked with casinos in the past. “Once everything is adjudicated… and the investigation is completed, this will be a case study that will be used by law enforcement and antiterrorism experts for decades.”

The difficulty of this case, Davis said, is that it is an “anomaly.” Most mass shootings occur in a closed space and at close contact, a movie theater or a nightclub. Stephen Paddock, the suspect in this case, aimed at his target from a high building, five football fields away. And days later, his motives remain unclear. Paddock, who shot himself as police closed in on him, was a 64-year-old retiree with no criminal record from Mesquite, a town about 80 miles from Vegas.

“Usually there’s a tell-tale sign associated with these types of actions — reclusive, a plethora of things associated with this mindset — and we have not found that yet,” Sheriff Joe Lombardo said at a press conference Wednesday.

Davis said he had attended a few monthly security meetings in the past. The meetings are about discussing challenges and networking more than they are about coordinating policy, he said.

“I’m sure this is going to be a packed house,” Davis said.

Megan Messerly contributed to this report.