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| Photo Credit: AP. |
LAS VEGAS (AP) — An attacker with a large kitchen knife killed two people and wounded six others in stabbings along the Las Vegas Strip before he was arrested Thursday, police said.
Three people
were hospitalized in critical condition and another three were in stable
condition, according to Las Vegas police, who said they began receiving 911
calls about the stabbings around 11:40 a.m. across the street from the Wynn
casino and hotel.
Yoni
Barrios, 32, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on two counts of
murder and six counts of attempted murder, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
said in a statement.
It wasn’t
immediately known whether Barrios had a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.
Barrios, who
is not a Las Vegas resident, was detained by Sands security guards and Metropolitan
Police officers while running on a Strip sidewalk, police said.
“This was an
isolated incident,” Metropolitan Police Deputy Chief James LaRochelle said in a
statement. “All evidence indicates Barrios acted alone and there are no
outstanding suspects at this time.”
Police said
they were continuing to investigate the motive but do not believe there was an
altercation before the attacks.
The Clark
County coroner’s office identified the victims who were killed as Brent Allan
Hallett, 47, and Maris Mareen Digiovanni, 30, both Las Vegas residents.
The names of
those wounded in the attack were not immediately released.
The initial
stabbing was unprovoked and on the eastern sidewalk of Las Vegas Boulevard. The
suspect then headed south and stabbed others, LaRochelle said.
The man fled
and was followed by 911 callers before he was taken into custody, authorities
said. Police recovered the “large knife with a long blade” believed to have
been used, LaRochelle said, calling the case a “hard-to-comprehend murder
investigation.”
There were
no other suspects in the case and “the Strip is secure,” Clark County Sheriff
Joe Lombardo said.
“Locals and
tourists are the victims of this crime,” Lombardo said.
Witnesses
told Las Vegas TV stations that some of the victims appeared to be showgirls or
street performers who take pictures with tourists on the Strip.
The suspect
told a woman that he was a chef who wanted to take a picture with some of the
showgirls with his knife, but he started stabbing people when the group
declined the man’s offer, the woman told KTNV.
Jason Adams
told KLAS that he witnessed the attack on a showgirl.
“This guy
came, ran up, and started stabbing this lady in front of me and she ran around
the escalators and she tried to get up under the bridge and her girlfriend was
trying to help her,” Adams said, adding that the attack happened very quickly.
Pierre
Fandrich, a tourist from Canada, told KTNV that he did not see the stabbing
suspect as he was walking along the Strip. But he said he thought he heard
“three or four showgirls laughing,” and it turned out to be screaming.
Fandrich
said he saw “a lot of blood” as one woman ran across a bridge, one was on the
ground, and another had a stab wound on her back as she tried to help the
fallen woman.
Fandrich
also told KTNV that he thought one of the victims fell from the bridge because
there was so much blood on the ground.
Democratic
Gov. Steve Sisolak posted a message on social media saying, “Our hearts are
with all those affected by this tragedy.”
“At the
State level, we will continue to work with partners in law enforcement to make
resources available on the ground and ensure the Las Vegas Strip remains a safe
and welcoming place for all to visit,” Sisolak said.