It’s a tragedy that resulted in bodies “flying” through the air, and it left one person dead and up to 38 injured.
Authorities say a woman intentionally swerved her car onto a busy sidewalk two or three times Sunday and mowed down pedestrians outside a Las Vegas casino.
The vehicle was in the northbound lanes of Las Vegas Boulevard near Bellagio Way when it drove up onto the sidewalk about 6:30 p.m. in front of the Paris Hotel & Casino and struck pedestrians, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Peter Boffelli said. The person killed was an adult, he said.
Police believe this was an intentional act by a woman in her 20s who “went up and off these streets, two or possibly three times,” Lt. Dan McGrath said. Police did not give a possible motive.
The woman is being interviewed and is having her blood drawn, police said. She is being held in the Clark County jail with charges pending.
“This is a huge tragedy that has happened on our Strip,” Boffelli said.
The crash in front of the Paris and Planet Hollywood hotels occurred on a busy stretch of the Las Vegas Strip across from the dancing water fountains of the Bellagio hotel-casino where visitors crowd sidewalks as they was walk from one casino to another. The Miss Universe pageant was being held nearby at the Planet Hollywood Las Vegas Resort & Casino at the time of the crash.
Police are reviewing video from casino-hotel surveillance cameras, Capt. Brett Zimmerman said. “We know this was not an act of terrorism,” he said. “We will comb through that footage to get a detailed idea of what occurred. ”
After the crash, the vehicle continued to head east on Flamingo Road before it was found at a hotel, McGrath said. The driver was taken into custody at the hotel, police said. A 3-year-old child was in the vehicle with her but was not hurt, Zimmerman said.
McGrath said the 1996 Oldsmobile was registered in Oregon and the driver had recently moved to the area.
The pedestrians were not in the road and were not at fault, McGrath said.
Justin Cochrane, a property manager from Santa Barbara, California, said he was having dinner at a sidewalk restaurant outside the Paris Hotel and across the street from the famous Bellagio Fountain when the incident took place.
The car appeared to be going 30 to 40 mph when it first hit the pedestrians on Las Vegas Boulevard, Cochrane said. “It was just massacring people,” he said.
The vehicle then went farther down the road and drove back into another crowd of pedestrians on the sidewalk, he said.
Cochrane said he couldn’t understand why the car went into the crowd a second time. “Why would it slow to go around and then accelerate again?” he said. “I thought it’s a crazy person.”
Cochrane said he saw children and adults injured and on the ground as the car drove away.
Joel Ortega, 31, of Redlands, California, said he and his wife, Carla, were in Las Vegas for the weekend and found themselves blocked from walking on the sidewalk toward the Paris Hotel & Casino. They could see police investigating about a block away from the scene of the crash.
“At first, I thought it was a movie shoot,” Joel Ortega said, “I thought maybe we’d see someone famous.”
But then they learned that it was a crash scene. Joel Ortega said it made them remember how their neighborhood was disrupted after the Dec. 2 mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, near their home.
Clark County Fire Chief Greg Cassell said the call for help came in at 6:38 p.m. and 70 emergency crew workers were sent to the scene.
Those in critical condition were treated at University Medical Center, Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and Spring Valley Hospital.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
One can only wonder why her name is being with held? But nooooo terrorist connection, no no no no! It would not be a Muslim name, would it? The longer you wait to release it, the worse it is going to look!
My thought exactly!! But I will not PROFILE because that would be wrong!! LOL!
Yeh, if it were a white woman her picture would have been plastered all over the place; apparently she is of some other race! Why is this not a huge story, we already know that, a Muslim or an illegal alien was the culprit and it will be availed to the sheeple drip by drip until most sheeple have forgotten about it, after all it is Christmas time! Ho, ho, ho, MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone, God bless you – am I still aloud to communicate that? Armr======================?, you will be needing them – guaranteed!
And the fact that it happened in front of the “PARIS HOTEL AND CASINO?” COINCIDENCE? MAYBE!
How do we know it’s not an act of terrorism? How have the police ruled this heinous act out so quickly?
thats because they used a car and not a gun obama should be ion tv soon calling for the ban of 1996 oldsmobiles and maybe all cars
Sounds like another coverup. Gotta protect the enemy. There isn’t any possible way the police can rule anything out. No time to do a good investigation. So want to try again guys. We aren’t buying the BS.
And given the proliferation of illegal drugs in Las Vegas, they failed to state more than blood was taken which is standard practice for DRUNK driving but NOT ILLEGAL DRUG DRIVING. Then the no name nor nationality/race either. How can they say it was NOT Terrorism without substantiating information which must be released. If I were a victim, I would have a law suit against the city and state in process now to open all of the information immediately to me and the public. They public deserves to know the risk and potential for more harm to come. Not a matter of IF, but of WHEN!
I agree! I wonder what dirty Harry would think if we ALL sue for being offended they didn’t report the entire story???
Why is the name of the perpetrator withheld?
You just have to wander, her motive, was it a terrist attack or something else? Was it perhaps drug related , what did happened to her child, I wander?
In a few hours, our Liar-in-Chief will have an announcement. Get ready for it. He’s about to blame this tragedy on easy access to guns.
12/21/15 = Good morning, our PRETEND commander-in chief may not comment on this tragedy because he is on his $3 million vacation in Hawaii, at the taxpayer’s expense!!! = GOD HELP US!!!
Once again we have a Holiday Mystery to contend with for the next weeks. I’m like many of the rest of the bloggers, there is much more to this story than just the article. Maybe she is related to a ‘Big Shot’, someone in one of the government departments, or a Mistress! One more thing, how about the kid in the car???
A mystery. Sounds like a terrorist attack. Public needs to know the truth .
My thoughts and prayers with you and the family. I pray for you.
I hope it not the terrorist attacks. This happened right after the beauty pageant? Where that liar liar liar Hillary at?
God Bless the.people.
Oh h … it’s coming…. we need to start banning cars now!
I read earlier, not once but several times, that she was yelling “Allahu Akbar” as she drove her car onto the sidewalk three times and mowed people down. Could that possibly be considered at ACT OF TERRORISM, or is that the NORM these days? I also saw a picture of her and she was in FULL MUSLIM REGALIA and it was stated that she REFUSED to take her HEAD thing off to have her picture taken when she was booked. SOOOOOOOOOOOO?????
Odd, why Paris Casino vs others on Strip.
A connection to real Paris strike?
ISIS training in Vegas??
Defcon 2, LVPD. wake up, ISIS is calling.
Did some googling; suspect’s name is “Lakeisha Holloway”(possibly misspelled), and she apparently was homeless, with her 3-yr. old daughter in the car at the time, and was having boyfriend trouble. See this article:
http://heavy.com/news/2015/12/lakeisha-holloway-driver-who-hit-pedestrians-las-vegas-strip-name-killed-injured-deaths-drunk-charges-child-oregon-planet-hollywood-paris-hotel/
No mention was made of any connection to islam whatsoever. Just a crazy black woman who “wanted other people to hurt because she was hurting.”
Her child should go to family members or the bf, and she shouldn’t get out of jail for at least 30 years…assuming she isn’t executed for murder, as she killed one. And who’s going to pay the hospital bills and therapy for the 30-odd victims?