Las Vegas police have charged a 32-year-old man with murder and attempted murder after he allegedly went on a stabbing spree Thursday morning on the Strip.
As Crime Online previously reported, two people were killed and six were wounded in the attack.
Security guards from the Sands Hotel and Casino and Metro police officers detained Yoni Barrios and booked him into the Clark County Detention Center, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.
The Clark County Coroner’s Office identified the slain victims as Brent Allan Hallet, 47, and Maris Mareen Digiovanni, 30, both from Las Vegas. Some news reports indicated that Digiovanni was an elementary school teacher, but according to her Facebook page, she left that job.
The identities of the wounded have not been released.
One of the victims was pronounced dead at the scene, the Las Vegas Sun reported. Three of the wounded remain in critical condition, while the other three are listed in stable condition.
Police said they recovered a large kitchen knife from the scene.
Dewaun Turner, 47, saw five of the stabbings, he told the Review Journal. He said he was walking home from work shortly before noon when he saw two women dressed as showgirls running and shouting for help as a man chased them with a knife. One of them slipped and fell in front of Wynn Las Vegas, and the man stabbed her. The second woman tried to run away, but he jumped up and stabbed her as well.
The first victim appeared to have been more seriously injured than the second, who began applying pressure to stop the bleeding as the suspect ran down the street.
“He wasn’t saying anything,” Turner said of the suspect.
The suspect ran from the two “showgirls” — women who dress as showgirls to take photos with tourists — and stabbed a man walking down the street with a woman — who appeared to have died on the scene — then stabbed two more women, Turner said.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said both locals and tourists were stabbed in the attack. Berrios is not from Las Vegas, he said.
Metro Police Department Deputy Chief James Rochelle said that “all evidence” indicated the attack was an isolated one and that “there are no outstanding suspects.” He said investigators don’t believe any kind of altercation prompted the attack, but they haven’t completed their investigation.
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[Featured image: Yoni Barrios/Clark County Detention Center]
