An attacker wielding a large kitchen knife reportedly killed two people and injured six others in stabbings along the Las Vegas Strip before being apprehended Thursday, according to police.
At 11:42 a.m., Las Vegas police began receiving 911 calls about the stabbings, which occurred across the street from the Wynn casino and hotel on the Strip.
Las Vegas Metropolitan PD announced two minutes after noon on October 6 that the stabbing victims were being taken to local hospitals.
One victim was pronounced dead at the scene, and a second was pronounced dead at University Medical Center. Three victims were hospitalized in critical condition, and three others were in stable condition.
The suspect, identified as 32-year-old Yoni Barrios, fled the scene on foot and was followed by 911 callers until he was apprehended by Sands security guards and Metropolitan Police officers.
“The suspect in today’s stabbings … has been booked into CCDC on two counts of open murder with a deadly weapon and six counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon,” the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) tweeted.
Police recovered “a large knife with a long blade” at the scene, which they believe was the weapon used in the attacks.
“This was an isolated incident,” LVMPD Deputy Chief James LaRochelle said in a statement, according to ABC News. “All evidence indicates Barrios acted alone, and there are no outstanding suspects at this time.”
Police said they are still investigating the motive but do not believe there was an altercation before the attacks. LaRochelle called the case a “hard-to-comprehend murder investigation.”
The deceased victims were identified as Brent Allan Hallett, 47, and Maris Mareen Digiovanni, 30, both of Las Vegas, by the Clark County coroner’s office. The names of the wounded have not been released.
Porter Dewaun Turner, 47, was walking home when he saw two showgirls fleeing a man with a knife, he told ABC News. One fell near an escalator to the Wynn Las Vegas’ pedestrian bridge. The man stabbed her, jumped up and stabbed another, then ran toward the Palazzo.
One of the showgirls was bleeding profusely while the other bandaged her wounds, Turner said. He then saw the suspect stab a man walking with a woman, then stab two more women. Turner said the knife-wielder was silent.
Another eyewitness, Jason Adams, said he saw a showgirl attacked. Adams said the attack happened very quickly. “This guy ran up and started stabbing this lady in front of me, and she ran around the escalators and tried to get under the bridge,” he said.
Pierre Fandrich, a Canadian tourist, told ABC News he didn’t see the stabbing suspect. But what he thought was “three or four showgirls laughing” was screaming. Fandrich said he saw “a lot of blood” as one woman ran across a bridge, another was on the ground, and a third was stabbed while trying to help the fallen woman, according to ABC News.
