Driver in Vegas rampage identified, charged with murder

A woman intentionally swerv…

The woman arrested in connection with a crash that left one woman dead and sent dozens of pedestrians on the Strip to area hospitals Sunday night told police she was stressed and exhausted, an arrest record shows.

In September 2005, three tourists were killed and almost a dozen injured when a auto barreled through the crowd on the Las Vegas Strip and crashed into a cement barrier in front of Bally’s hotel-casino.

Police said Lakeisha Holloway, 24, from OR, drove her vehicle onto a pavement packed with more than 100 people, then fled the scene.

The vehicle was in the northbound lanes of Las Vegas Boulevard near Bellagio Way when the vehicle drove up onto the sidewalk in front of the Paris Hotel & Casino.

The driver, who is in her 20s, went onto the sidewalk at least three or four times, according to Zimmerman.

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

“We were just so blessed that it wasn’t us”, she said.

She is originally from Oregon, Lombardo said, but he added that authorities were “having difficulty obtaining her background”.

Holloway petitioned to change her name to Paris Paradise Morton on October 8, and a Portland, Oregon, judge granted permission on October 30.

It appears Holloway had been homeless and living in her vehicle with her young child, said Lombardo.

The tragedy unfolded on Las Vegas Boulevard, steps away from the Planet Hollywood resort where the 2015 Miss Universe pageant was crowning a victor before a live worldwide audience.

People jumped on the vehicle and banged on its windows, but Holloway didn’t stop driving on the sidewalk, Lombardo said. Convoys of ambulances and police cars gathered at various spots, their lights flashing.

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

Charges of attempted murder, child abuse, and child neglect are also expected as Holloway had her three-year-old daughter in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

A driver veered onto a crowded sidewalk several times on the Las Vegas Strip, injuring more than 30 people in what authorities described as an “intentional” act.

Holloway is under round-the-clock watch at a jail, Deputy Clark County Public Defender Scott Coffee said.

McGrath said the 1996 Oldsmobile was registered in OR and the driver had recently moved to the area. Officer Michael Rodriguez calls it “medically restricted housing”. He said six of those injured and listed in critical condition were now stable. A drug recognition expert on the scene determined Holloway was under the influence of a “stimulant, ” but blood test results are pending.Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg said Monday that 32-year-old Jessica Valenzuela of Buckeye, Arizona, died in the crash Sunday night.

Other victims were from Oregon, Florida, Colorado, California, Washington, Mexico, and Quebec, Canada.

Oregon’s Pacific University had four of its students with non-life threatening injuries.

Organizers initially mistakenly awarded first place to Colombian Ariadna Gutierrez Arévalo, 21, who then had to give the crown back. The child was in the auto when Holloway drove into the pedestrians.