Two dead, six injured in Las Vegas random stabbing attack
The suspect is in custody, after attacking the city at around noon, and targeting both locals and tourists at random.
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A photo from the crime scene (Twitter)
Police in Las Vegas, Nevada, reported two dead and six others injured in what seemed to be an unprovoked and random stabbing attack.
In a city internationally known for its entertainment, the attack occurred mid-day when the attacker used a large and long-blade knife and attacked his first victim at random and without warning, according to James LaRochelle of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, who said, "The initial stabbing occurs on the sidewalk area and appears unprovoked."
The assailant ran on the street and went on attacking others.
"Three are in a critical condition. The other victims are at the hospital," LaRochelle said, adding that the suspect, a Latino in his 30s, was finally crossed by police officers and security and is not believed to be a local to the city.
Investigator James LaRochelle says first stabbing happened on the sidewalk unprovoked then the suspect traveled south and stabbed five additional people. pic.twitter.com/MmCNbR6S2P
— @SeanKTNV (@seanktnv) October 6, 2022
In wake of the attack, parts of the Las Vegas strip remained closed on Thursday. The attack marks five years after the Nevadan city was victim to one of the worst mass shootings in recent US history, when 58 people died and hundreds were wounded on October 1, 2017, when Stephen Paddock shot more than 1,000 rounds at a crowd attending an open-air music concert while aiming from a 32nd-floor room of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in the city.
Mass stabbings are not as frequent to be headlined in the news, as mass shootings, an almost everyday occurrence in the US that often makes not just national but global headlines. There were 687 mass shootings in 2021 alone, and the latest shooting to shake the US took place in late May this year when an 18-year-old carried out a mass shooting that claimed the lives of at least 21 people at an elementary school in Texas. He used two weapons, which include an AR15-style automatic rifle.
