Las Vegas Strip mass stabbing suspect asked showgirls for photo with foot-length knife: doc

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – The man accused of stabbing eight people on the Las Vegas Strip and killing two had asked a group of showgirls to take a picture with a foot-length kitchen knife he planned to sell before he she had stabbed documents obtained from Nextstars KLAS, Friday said.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said he intends to file two counts of murder with a deadly weapon and six counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon against Yoni Barrios, 32. He did not rule out the possibility of a death penalty.

“We will seriously consider it. But it’s still so early,” Wolfson told the media after Barrios’ first court appearance ended Friday afternoon.

Yoni Barrios, 32, had traveled to Las Vegas from California earlier this week, police said. He arrived on the Las Vegas Strip by bus around 8 a.m. Thursday. He told police he went there after being told he could not stay at a friend’s house, police said.

Barrios told police he was trying to sell his knives so he could return home, according to the arrest report.

According to the arrest report, Barrios went to the Wynn Casino to inquire about job opportunities as a janitor. He told police he even asked the janitor to get in touch with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) so he could return to Guatemala.

Barrios then exited the Wynn and approached a group of showgirls near the casino’s main entrance on Las Vegas Boulevard just before 11:40 a.m., officials say.

Barrios told the group of showgirls he was a chef, the document said. One of the showgirls told police Barrios asked to take a picture with the group with his knife. He thought the women would laugh at him and make fun of his clothes, and he said it made him angry and he “stabbed one of the women in the chest,” the report said.

Maris Mareen DiGiovanni, who was in the group, died in hospital. Another woman in the group trying to help Digiovanni was stabbed in the back.

After the stabbing involving the group, Barrios ran away and stabbed six others, including Brent Allan Hallett, as he ran down the sidewalk from Las Vegas Boulevard to Sands Avenue, where he threw the bloodied knife into some bushes, the police said police with.

Dewaun Turner, 47, a porter at The District at Resorts World, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that on his way home he saw two people dressed as showgirls in red dresses and heels fleeing a man with a knife. He saw the man stab them both, a man walking past, and then two more women.

“Ten or 15 steps ahead and I would have been one of the people who got stabbed,” Turner said.

The coroner’s office identified Hallett, 47, and Digiovanni, 30, both from Las Vegas, as the two people who died in the attack. Six others were injured.

After being taken into custody, Barrios told police he “hoped officers would shoot him,” according to the arrest report.

Barrios was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on two counts of open murder with a deadly weapon and six counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon, police said. He was ordered to remain in custody until his next court date, currently scheduled for October 11.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.