Thread: 37 hit, 1 killed by vehicle driving on sidewalk on Las Vegas Strip

37 hit, 1 killed by vehicle driving on sidewalk on Las Vegas Strip

• Mass casualty accident on Las Vegas Strip
• 37 hit, 1 killed in accident on Strip

Posted by: Jami Seymore
Email: Jseymore@sbgtv.com

Published: 6:45 pm
Updated: 8:55 pm


LAS VEGAS (KSNV News3LV) - A vehicle has hit a group of over 20 pedestrians on the sidewalk on the Las Vegas Strip. Officials say 36 have been injured and 1 has been killed in the accident. 6 of the victims were listed as in critical condition

The crash occurred about 6:40 p.m. in front of the Paris Hotel & Casino and Planet Hollywood, and has been listed as a mass casualty accident. The injured have been transported to Sunrise and UMC trauma center.

The woman driving the offending vehicle had a 3-year-old child with her, and drove away from the scene. She turned herself in to security at the Tuscany Suites & Casino.

Las Vegas Metro currently has Las Vegas Blvd closed between Harmon and Flamingo.

Sources say the driver was drunk.

http://www.news3lv.com/content/news/...AhdfzDYPQ.cspx

DEC 21 2015, 11:51 AM ET

Las Vegas Sidewalk Crash: One Dead, Dozens Hurt in 'Intentional Act'

by M. ALEX JOHNSON

A woman with a toddler in her car repeatedly plowed into pedestrians on the crowded Las Vegas Strip on Sunday night, killing one person and injuring dozens more in what police say may have been an intentional assault.

Las Vegas Deputy Police Chief Brett Zimmerman said the incident was "not an act of terrorism" but appeared to be intentional. He said homicide units were investigating.

Flashing ambulance lights overtook the glitz of the famous Strip after the deadly incident, which took place near the hotel where the Miss Universe pageant was ending.

The person killed was identified by the Clark County Coroner's Office Monday as 32-year-old Jessica Valenzuela. She was from Buckey, Arizona, according to Colleen Downey, a spokeswoman for the coroner's office.

Police said the driver, a woman in her 20s, swerved onto the sidewalk two or three times on the Strip at around 6:40 p.m. (9:40 p.m. ET) along a stretch of the Strip near the Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood hotels. Both hotels offered sympathies to the victims in statements following the crash.

The Strip reopened at 6 a.m. Monday morning.

The 1996 Oldsmobile with Oregon plates drove off from the scene and was found parked at another hotel, according to police. The driver was detained and will face charges, police told an early-morning press conference, adding that the 3-year-old who was in her car was unharmed.

Police did not identify the driver, but said it appeared she recently had moved to the area.

"This is a huge tragedy that has occurred on our Strip," police Lt. Peter Boffelli said.


Police and emergency crews respond to the scene on Sunday night. John Locher / AP

At least six of the injured were transported to hospitals in critical condition, but all were stable early Monday morning, Las Vegas police said. Authorities initially said 37 people were injured, but they later said 26 people had been transported to three hospitals.

Four of those injured were members of Pacific University's men's wrestling team, according to the Oregon school. Three of the injured students, who were in Las Vegas for a competition with teammates and coaches, were transported to the hospital, according to a statement from the school. Two were treated and released, and one was kept overnight Sunday, the statement said.

The driver hit pedestrians in two areas, according to police, which said witnesses described the car speeding up and slamming into a second group of people after the initial strike.

Rabia Qureshi, a tourist from Wisconsin, told NBC station KSNV that the car looked like "a bowling ball and the human bodies were like pins."

"You think it's a show, because you're in Vegas," Qureshi said.

"But then I saw some people fly in the air."

Qureshi's husband, Atif, a surgeon, stopped their car and dashed out to lend assistance.

"The first thing that came into my mind was that I should be out there helping them," Atif Qureshi said.

Another witness, Sofie Kitterød, told NBC News that she saw 10 people being taken away in ambulances.

"What we've heard is that a car drove up on the sidewalk by Planet Hollywood and continued past Paris Hotel," Kitterød said. "There are many ambulances on both sites."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...al-act-n483581

Lakeisha Holloway, 24, Was Driver in Deadly Las Vegas Strip Crash, Police Say

http://abcnews.go.com/US/arizona-wom...ry?id=35888429



This is the article. Please post article instead of link.

Lakeisha Holloway to Be Charged With Murder in Deadly Las Vegas Strip Crash, Police Say

• By EMILY SHAPIRO

Dec 21, 2015, 2:37 PM ET



A 24-year-old woman, believed to be from the Oregon area, will be charged with murder for allegedly driving a car on a sidewalk and through a crowd on the Las Vegas Strip Sunday, killing one and injuring over 30 others, officials said today.

Lakeisha Holloway is in custody and will be charged with one count of murder with the use of a deadly weapon, the district attorney's office said. She may face additional charges including multiple counts of attempted murder with the use of a deadly weapon, child abuse and neglect and leaving the scene of an accident.

Officials say they have ruled out terrorism as a possible motive. However, they do believe the incident was "an intentional act," based upon the car's movements. The suspect went up on the sidewalk "two, maybe three times," according to police.

The sheriff said she was very stoic and didn’t appear to be "distressed" from her actions.

"The video [of the incident] obviously shows intention," the sheriff said today.

Holloway had been in Las Vegas for about a week and living in a car, officials said today. She said it was her car, but the car was registered to another person in Oregon, officials said.

Holloway could be in court as early as Tuesday, the district attorney's office said. The investigation is ongoing, the sheriff said.




Jessica Valenzuela, 32, of Buckeye, Arizona, died from the accident, the Clark County, Nevada, Coroner's Office said today. The cause and manner of death are pending.

Over 30 people were hospitalized, officials said today, and three people remain in critical condition.

The female suspect drove off after the incident, but police caught up with her and she was detained, Clark County officials said.
A 3-year-old girl was in the suspect's car at the time of the crash, but the child was unharmed, police said.

Lakeisha Holloway. (Facebook)

A 24-year-old Oregon woman has been identified as the driver accused of striking dozens of pedestrians, killing one, Sunday night on the Las Vegas Strip

http://heavy.com/news/2015/12/lakeis...d-paris-hotel/

Police ID suspect in deadly car rampage as 24-year-old homeless woman

Published December 21, 2015 FoxNews.com
d, dozens hurt after car drives on Las Vegas sidewalk
A 24-year-old homeless woman who cops said had been living in her car with her 3-year-old daughter in Las Vegas for about a week was charged Monday in the automobile rampage that killed one and wounded at least 35 others Sunday night.

Lakeisha N. Holloway appeared “stoic” when cops encountered her soon after the 1996 Oldsmobile sedan she was driving plowed into a crowd on the Las Vegas Strip multiple times – all while a young child was sitting in the backseat.

Related Image


Lakeisha N. Holloway is charged with murder, first-degree child abuse or neglect and failing to stop at the scene of an accident. (Clark County Detention Center)


“She didn’t appear to be distressed due to her actions,” Sheriff Joe Lombardo said during a Monday news conference.

Holloway was booked Monday on charges including murder, first-degree child abuse or neglect and failing to stop at the scene of an accident, according to Clark County Detention Center records.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said he anticipated also filing numerous counts of attempted murder.

The charge of fleeing the scene is a felony and, as of Oct. 1, is a non-probationable offense.

He said seeking the death penalty was “a consideration.”

Authorities said Sunday they “know this was not an act of terrorism,” though Lombardo did leave some wiggle room on Monday.

“As of now we do not believe it to be an act of terrorism,” he said, noting that officials were not “100 percent ruling out the possibility” and are working with the FBI.

“The act is going to be very hard to explain at face value,” said Lombardo, who reiterated that whatever the ultimate classification, cops believe the carnage was “an intentional act.”

Lombardo also suggested a falling out with the child’s father could be a possible motive, though he said authorities believed the father was living in Dallas.

“At some point we believe she was attempting to make her way that direction through Las Vegas,” Lombardo said.

But Holloway never made it out of the city following a horrific scene on the Strip that she’s accused of creating.

The driver “went up and off these streets, two or possible three times,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Lt. Dan McGrath said.

The suspect then allegedly drove off before being apprehended outside the Tuscany Casino. After Holloway pulled into the casino lot, Lombardo said, she left her child in the car, approached a valet and told him “she ran over some individuals on Las Vegas Boulevard.”

Holloway did not demonstrate signs of being under the influence of alcohol, Lombardo said, though a police expert believed she was under the influence of “some sort of stimulant.” Results of a blood test are pending.

Part of the reason Lombardo said he can’t discount terrorism as a motive is Holloway’s murky background. Investigators believe she’s originally from the Oregon area, but otherwise have hit roadblocks.

Holloway was convicted of operating a vehicle without driving privileges and driving uninsured in December 2011, according to Oregon court records obtained by oregonlive.com.

A woman named Lakeisha Holloway, and fitting the description of the woman booked in Las Vegas, was profiled in an Oregon paper, The Skanner, in 2012 after she won a CARE Role Model award. That article details Holloway’s struggles in high school, including being homeless during her freshman year. Holloway also described her mother’s battles with alcohol. The Skanner piece noted that Halloway wanted to pursue a career in forestry service.

A Facebook page for a woman believed to be Halloway shows images of a newborn daughter in 2012 and a photo of the Paris Hotel & Casino in October 2012 – more than three years before she’s suspected of driving into a crowd of people outside that structure with that child in the vehicle.

The crash unfolded at around 6:40 p.m. local time (9:40 p.m. EST). A woman's car was in the northbound lanes of Las Vegas Boulevard near Bellagio Way when it drove up onto the sidewalk in front of the Paris and struck pedestrians, police Lt. Peter Boffelli said. Witnesses said the car appeared to be travelling about 30 to 40 mph.

The incident took place in one of the busiest areas of the Strip, across from the famous dancing water fountains of the Bellagio hotel-casino.

The woman who died was 32-year-old Jessica Valenzuela, according to Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg.

Valenzuela, of Buckeye, Ariz., was visiting Las Vegas with her husband, Fudenberg said. An autopsy is scheduled for later Monday and the cause of death is pending.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/12/21...l?intcmp=hpbt3