An attacker with a long kitchen knife brutally killed two people and injured six others in stabbings along the Las Vegas Strip on Thursday before being apprehended, according to the police.
Three people were hospitalized in a crucial 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. on the north end of the Strip.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said the names of the two people killed were being withheld until their relatives can be notified.
Metro Police Deputy Chief James LaRochelle said the first stabbing was unprovoked and on the eastern sidewalk of Las Vegas Boulevard. He said the suspect then ran south and stabbed others.
Authorities said the suspect identified himself to police and they are working to determine his “true identity.” They described him as Hispanic and in his 30s, and said he does not appear to be a Las Vegas resident.
Lombardo said there were no other suspects in the case and “the Strip is secure.”
After the attack, the suspect fled the scene but the eyewitness followed him, while on a 911 call before he was arrested and contained.
The authorities also recovered the kitchen knife used to perpetrate the horrible act, and investigations have started.
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.
One of the witnesses told KTNV that 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.
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.
