Two people have been killed and six are wounded, including a number of showgirls, after a mass stabbing attack outside casinos on the heart of the Las Vegas strip – with a “bloodied” male suspect now in police custody.
Police were called to reports of a stabbing with multiple victims in front of a casino in the 3100 block of South Las Vegas Boulevard at around 11.42am on Thursday, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD).
One of the victims was pronounced dead at the scene while others were rushed to area hospitals, where a second victim died.
Six others remain in treatment, with three critically injured.
A group of concerned citizens followed the alleged attacker.
A police officer and a security guard eventually took the suspect into custody in front of the popular Venetian and Palazzo hotel-casinos, with witnesses describing him as a man with a significant amount of blood “on his sleeves”.
During a press conference on Thursday, the LVMPD described the attacks as unprovoked.
A wintess, who said the injured showgirls work for her, told 13 Action News the suspect told a group of women he was a chef and asked to take a picture with them. When they declined, he stabbed them.
LVMPD deputy chief James LaRochelle described the suspect as a Hispanic male in his 30s who had recently visited the city.
The victims are a mix of locals and tourists, ABC 7 reports.
Police believe he used a large kitchen knife to carry out the attacks.
Witnesses said the stabbings unfolded across multiple locations with some of the victims believed to be showgirls who were taking photos with tourists along the strip at the time of the attack.
Pierre Fandrich told the outlet that he was walking along the strip when he heard what he initially thought was “three or four showgirls laughing”.
He quickly realised that the laughter was in fact screaming when he saw “a lot of blood”.
Mr Fandrich said he initially thought a woman “fell from the bridge because there was a lot of blood on the ground”.
One woman was lying on the ground while another – who also had a large stab wound in her back – was trying to help her. The woman and another passer-by performed CPR on the victim lying down until emergency responders arrived on the scene, he said.
He saw another woman running across the bridge trying to flee the chaos.
Mr Fandrich said that “everything happened so fast” and so he didn’t see the suspect.
Another witness, who was visiting Sin City from Los Angeles, told 13 Action News that they saw a victim with stab wounds lying on the ground near the shops in the the Fashion Mall.
The public has been urged to stay away from the area as roads remain closed off and the investigation continues.
Police say there’s no further danger to the public.
A spokesperson for LVMPD told The Independent that they have no further information at this time.
