Maris Mareen Digiovanni & Brent Allan Hallett id as Las Vegas strip fatal stabbing victims at hands of Guatemala illegal immigrant, with prior criminal record, Yoni Barrios. 8 stabbed in total, 3 others remain in critical condition.
Nevada authorities have revealed the identities of the two individuals killed at the hands of an illegal immigrant during a mass stabbing rampage along the Las Vegas strip late Thursday morning just before noon.
Maris Mareen Digiovanni, 30, a local elementary teacher and working Vegas showgirl also going by the name of Maris Jordan and local man, Brent Allan Hallett, 47, were both killed in the knife attack that also saw four showgirls get slashed in broad daylight.
Police arrested and charged Yoni Christian Barrios, 32, with murder following the fatal attack on the Las Vegas strip. At the time of his arrest, Barrios told officers he was in the US illegally and that he hailed from Guatemala and that he stabbed his victims so he could ‘let the anger out.’
Fox News reported Barrios being an illegal immigrant with a criminal record in California for unknown offenses. He was not known to ICE prior to the stabbing, the outlet added.
A Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department arrest report first obtained by Channel 8 News said Barrios came from California to Vegas two days earlier and planned to move in with a friend, but when he arrived the friend backed out. Barrios told detectives he took a bus to the strip, where other passengers made fun of him and he ‘wasn’t treated like a human being.’
LVMPD has identified 32-year-old Yoni Barrios as the suspect in the mass stabbing on Las Vegas Boulevard late Thursday morning.
DETAILS: https://t.co/CMsl7aFNLz pic.twitter.com/F31N8ESQAJ
— FOX5 Las Vegas (@FOX5Vegas) October 7, 2022
Video shows the suspect in a mass stabbing on the Las Vegas Strip running away while being chased by bystanders. Police said he is a Hispanic man in his early 30s who does not seem to be a local, and are still trying to identify him. #8NNhttps://t.co/KuP3WiXUzH pic.twitter.com/TwuUMoUUoZ
— 8 News Now (@8NewsNow) October 6, 2022
Guatemalan national in the U.S. illegally 😡 this is just the start 😠
Yoni Barrios – 8 PEOPLE were stabbed Las Vegas 🔪
Sadly 2 of them have died. 3 are in critical condition, 3 are stable
He arrived in Vegas two days ago from California. Next court appearance set for Oct 11 pic.twitter.com/PSg7RYwvws— Joni Job (@jj_talking) October 7, 2022
Suspect started stabbing after refused photo op with showgirls
The horror unfolded around 11:40 am local time on Thursday. The entertainers who were attacked were said to have been outside the Wynn Casino greeting tourists when the knifeman launched the vicious attack.
The suspect reportedly had a kitchen knife and told the showgirls he was a chef that wanted to take a photo with them.
When they refused the stabbings started, the suspect proceeded to stab at the showgirls, and others, before fleeing the scene and pursued by bystanders before his eventual capture. On Friday, a co-worker of showgirl Digiovanni also revealed that she bled out in a co-worker’s arms after being fatally-knifed.
Paying tribute to his school teacher sister, Maris Mareen Digiovanni‘s heartbroken brother paid tribute to his beloved sister last night. The 30-year-old previously worked as a teacher at 9th Bridge School in Las Vegas according to her Facebook page.
She graduated with a degree in education from Washington State University, and had worked as a preschool-elementary teacher in both Bahrain and Hong Kong.
Posted, Gage DiGiovanni: ‘It is with great sadness that we say goodbye and see you later to my amazing little sister. Maris was a victim of the horrific random stabbing of 8 people in Las Vegas today.
‘Please pray for our family and her husband. We appreciate the space to grieve in the coming days and know she touched your lives as she did ours.’
Tributes to fatal victim
One of Maris’ friends took to social media to pay tribute to the ‘kindest soul.’
Emma Leeson wrote about her friend: ‘Absolutely shocked, devastated and heart broken.
‘The most kindest beautiful soul taken way to young, this is so unfair and should never of happened – I can’t wrap my head around any of it.
‘Thank you for all the incredibly fun amazing spontaneous memories and adventures we got to share together.’
According to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Barrios is believed to have acted alone, with investigators saying the stabbings was an isolated incident.
A total of eight were hurt, according to Captain Dori Koren of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police. The remaining three are in a stable condition.
Suspect fled scene
Barrios was arrested ‘very quickly’, said Koren.
Tourists are among the victims, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo later told the media.
During that press conference Metropolitan Police Department Deputy Chief James LaRochelle said that the suspect started stabbing without provocation.
He said that authorities are in possession of video showing the suspect leaving the original scene and running down Las Vegas Boulevard heading towards Sands Boulevard.
A blood soaked Barrios was held by Sands security guards until the police arrived.
LaRochelle said upon the suspect having stabbed the showgirls, he then headed south and stabbed an additional victim.
Following the stabbing, Geli Woods, the owner of Mystique Showgirls, told KTNV that she always tells her employees to be on their guard while working the strip and arm themselves with pepper spray.
Woods said: ‘My girls walk down that way all the time. We always go down there. That could have been us.’
She added: ‘I have had some of my employees who don’t want to showgirl anymore, and I really don’t blame them because it’s a scary situation.’
.@JoeVigil spoke with two tourists who witnessed the aftermath of a mass stabbing on the Las Vegas Strip.
MORE on the incident: https://t.co/0eXGHy1PRM pic.twitter.com/6HSLCyfcPB
— FOX5 Las Vegas (@FOX5Vegas) October 6, 2022
Dangers to showgirls
Those sentiments were echoed somewhat by Bobi Jo Milstead, the owner of Stardust Starlets.
She told KSNV: ‘Honestly, I’m very shaken up all of the girls are. It’s scary because it can happen to anybody.’
Milstead also said: ‘It’s a hard thing to deal with. I know some girls have pulled out tasers and pepper sprays on people who are just manhandling them. Treating them like their property and they’re not. Yes, they’re out there dressed up, but they don’t belong to the world.’
Pierre Fandrich told 13 Action News he thought he heard showgirls laughing, but they were in fact screaming. When he saw the blood he assumed one of them had fallen from a nearby bridge.
In a separate interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal, Fandrich said through a translator: ‘There was one showgirl on the ground.’
He continued: ‘There was another showgirl on top of her, trying to help her friend. She seemed to be stabbed in the back, but she didn’t notice because she was helping the other showgirl.’
No known motive for the attack was immediately known.
