Driver Was “Stressed” as She Mowed Down Dozens of Las Vegas Tourists

An American woman who intentionally drove her auto onto a crowded Las Vegas Strip footpath, killing one person and injuring at least 35 others, was homeless and had been living in her vehicle with her three-year-old child, police say.

This photo provided by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department…

Lakeisha Holloway, 24, said security guards ran her off everywhere she stopped to get some sleep in her vehicle with her 3-year-old daughter. She wouldn’t explain why she drove onto the sidewalk, but said she remembered a body bouncing off her windshield and breaking it.

Holloway had parked near the Tuscany Casino, off the Strip a few blocks from the crash, and told a valet driver to call 911 because she had hit some pedestrians, Lombardo said. Organizers initially mistakenly awarded first place to Colombian Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo, 21, who then had to give the crown back.

Authorities ruled out terrorism but said an initial investigation showed the driver acted deliberately.

“She’s just always thinking about her daughter or the next thing she needs to take care of”, Hardaway said, adding that her cousin was a working mother who “makes good money”.

USA Today wrote that Sheriff Lombardo spoke to Halloway after her arrest, and she revealed the details of the day that had stressed her out so much and that being on the famed Las Vegas strip was not where she wanted to be. “That’s the best way I can describe it”, Lombardo said.

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

Holloway was homeless in high school but turned her life around by graduating and earning $17,000 in scholarships. He said she was being interviewed and tested for drugs and alcohol.

According to Las Vegas police, a black woman in her 20s driving a 1996 Oldsmobile drove onto the sidewalk between the Paris hotel-casino and Bally’s at 2 different locations.

The Miss Universe pageant was being held nearby at the Planet Hollywood Las Vegas Resort & Casino at the time of the crash but there were no indications of a connection.

“She went up off the street, onto the sidewalk, two or possibly three times”, Las Vegas police lieutenant Dan McGrath said.

The sheriff said investigators were trying to piece together Holloway’s background.

Lombardo said officers took blood and called an expert in narcotics effects, who determined Holloway was not drunk, but may have used a stimulant.

She faces three charges, including murder with a deadly weapon, leaving the scene of an accident, and child abuse or neglect, according to a statement from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and additional charges are likely.

At least one person was killed and 37 others injured near the Paris Las Vegas hotel, Clark County Fire Chief Greg Cassell said.

But Coffee says the fact that Holloway is on suicide watch shows jail officials also have concerns about her mental state. He said it was too early to say if he would pursue an insanity defence. Danita Cohen, an administrator at the University Medical Centre in Las Vegas, said Monday five of the patients at her hospital are Canadian.

The person killed in the crash was identified Monday by the Clark County Coroner’s Office as Jessica Valenzuela, 32, of Buckeye, Arizona.

Lombardo said the victims were from Oregon, Colorado, Florida, California, Washington, Mexico and Quebec, Canada.

Pacific University is based in Forest Grove, about 30 miles west of Portland.

The auto appeared to be travelling between 48 kilometres per hour and 64 kilometres per hour as it hit pedestrians, according to one witness.

Cochrane said he couldn’t understand why the auto went into the crowd a second time.

Cochrane said he saw children and adults injured and on the ground as the auto drove away.