Suspect in fatal Las Vegas stabbings revealed to be Hispanic

• Suspect in fatal Las Vegas stabbings revealed to be Hispanic.
• Police said they were still investigating the motive but do not believe there was an altercation before the attacks.
• «This guy came, ran up and started stabbing this lady in front of me,» a witness said.

Authorities reveal that the suspect in the fatal Las Vegas stabbings is Hispanic. An attacker with a large kitchen knife killed two people and wounded six others in stabbings along the Las Vegas Strip before he was arrested Thursday, police said.

Three people were hospitalized in critical condition and three others were in stable condition, according to Las Vegas police, who said they began receiving 911 calls about the stabbings across the street from the Wynn hotel and casino at around 11:40 a.m.

Identity of stabbing suspect revealed

Yoni Barrios, 32, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on two counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement, according to The Associated Press.

It was not immediately known if Yoni Barrios had an attorney who could comment on his behalf. Barrios, who is not a Las Vegas resident, was stopped by Sands security guards and Metropolitan Police officers as he ran down a Strip sidewalk, police said.

“It was an isolated incident”

«This was an isolated incident,» Metropolitan Police Deputy Chief James LaRochelle said in a statement. «All evidence indicates that Barrios acted alone and there are no outstanding suspects at this time,» he added. Police said they were still investigating the motive but do not believe there was an altercation before the attacks.

The Clark County Coroner’s Office identified the slain victims as Brent Allan Hallett, 47, and Maris Mareen Digiovanni, 30, both Las Vegas residents. The names of those injured in the attack were not immediately released.

Are more people involved?

The initial stabbing was unprovoked and occurred on the east sidewalk of Las Vegas Boulevard. The suspect then headed south and stabbed others, LaRochelle said. The man fled and was followed by people who called 911 before he was taken into custody, authorities said. Police recovered the «large knife with a long blade» believed to have been used, LaRochelle said, calling the case a «hard-to-comprehend murder investigation.»

There were no other suspects in the case and «the Strip is safe,» Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said. “Locals and tourists are the victims of this crime,” Lombardo said. Witnesses told Las Vegas television stations that some of the victims looked like showgirls or street performers taking photos with tourists on the Strip.

What triggered the stabbing in Las Vegas

Yoni Barrios told a woman that he was a chef who wanted to take a picture with some of the showgirls while holding his knife. He started stabbing people when the group refused the man’s request, the woman told KTNV. Jason Adams told KLAS that he witnessed the attack on a showgirl.

«This guy came and ran and started stabbing this lady in front of me and she ran around the escalator and tried to go under the bridge and her girlfriend was trying to help her,» Adams said, adding that the attack happened very quickly.