Jessica Valenzuela, 32, of Buckeye, Arizona, died in the crash on Sunday night, after Lakeisha N. Holloway, 24, of Portland, allegedly hit pedestrians on two different sections of the sidewalk while heading north on Las Vegas Boulevard near Bellagio Way.
At a press conference at 10am PST on Monday, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said initial charges include murder with use of a deadly weapon as well as multiple counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon, child abuse or neglect and failure to remain at the scene of an accident.
He said: ‘When a person drives a 2,000-pound-plus motor vehicle intentionally onto a sidewalk, killing and injuring scores of people, that’s murder.’ Holloway is being held without bail at Clark County Jail.
While the motive remains unclear, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said he does not believe the incident was a case of terrorism. However, he said he was not able to absolutely rule out terrorism at this stage due to a lack of information about the suspect.
Authorities said people jumped on the car and banged on its windows as it plowed through pedestrians on the sidewalk.
Lombardo told reporters that Holloway was stoic and didn’t appear to be distressed when she was arrested. He said she told a valet at a hotel to call 911 after she mowed down people on Las Vegas Boulevard.
He added Holloway had made statements about her motive at the scene, but was ‘not comfortable’ with divulging those comments. However, he insisted that those statements did not suggest the motive was terrorism.
Authorities said they were struggling to piece together Holloway’s background. She changed her name to Paris Paradise Morton in October, according to Oregon court records.
He said Holloway had alluded to a ‘disassociation’ with the father of her child, who is now in protective custody.
She did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol, police said, but a drug recognition expert on the scene determined Holloway was under the influence of a ‘stimulant,’ although blood test results are pending.
Holloway told authorities that she had been in Las Vegas for around a week, Lombardo added, and police believe she was living in her vehicle with her daughter. Lombardo said she was thought to have been passing through Las Vegas on her way to find the child’s estranged father in Texas.
TMZ reports that Holloway is a model, who was in Sin City for work. She had just started a clothing line, but it is not clear if she was modeling her own lothes or picking up work elsewhere.
Earlier on Monday, Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg identified Valenzuela, 32, of Buckeye, Arizona, as the woman who died. The coroner said the suburban Phoenix woman was visiting Las Vegas with her husband. The couple had celebrated their ten-year wedding anniversary earlier this month.
A cause of death is pending, with an autopsy scheduled for Monday.
A GoFundMe page set up by Valenzuela’s sister-in-law to help cover funeral and transportation costs said she was a mother of three girls.
The incident took place at around 6.40pm on Sunday in front of the Paris Hotel & Casino and Planet Hollywood, where the 2015 Miss Universe beauty pageant was underway at the time.
At a press conference at the crash site, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Deputy Chief Brett Zimmerman said this was an intentional act. He added that video of a car crashing into pedestrians ‘looks like it’s very intentional.’
On Monday, Zimmerman said Monday that the car was fully on the sidewalk twice, including once when it traveled for 200 feet. He says the car went onto the sidewalk first near a restaurant at the Planet Hollywood hotel-casino and then again at the driveway entrance to the Paris Las Vegas hotel-casino.
Meanwhile, LaShay Hardaway, Holloway’s cousin, said: ‘This is not like her. She’s a very successful woman, she’s always been successful, she’s an overachiever.
‘It’s not her character. We are all trying to figure out what happened. Something very tragic must have taken place in her life because this is not her.
‘This is not something she would ever do. We are so sorry for those families affected by this’.
Source: Daily Mail
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