Deadly, dangerous acts play out on Strip

Thursday’s deadly shooting and car crash on the Strip that left three people dead is just the latest in a rash of violent incidents in the iconic resort corridor in recent months.

■ On Dec. 14, Edward Brandt, 31, of Lake Forest, Ill., walked into the Excalibur at 8:30 p.m. and shot his ex-girlfriend, Jessica Kenny, 30, several times with a .38-caliber revolver before turning the gun on himself. Both died. The shooting sent people at the busy resort on Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue scrambling in all directions. Police said Brandt hadn’t dated Kenny in several years.

■ On Dec. 21, a woman approached a Bellagio blackjack table and began slashing the face of dealer Joyce Rhone, 44. Brenda Stokes, 50, faces charges in the attack. She believed Rhone was involved with her former fiance. Rhone survived the attack. Stokes was later charged in the kidnapping and killing of 10-year-old Jade Morris, her ex-fiance’s daughter.

■ Gunshots erupted just past midnight on Feb. 6 in a parking garage lobby at 3785 Las Vegas Blvd. South, near the United Artists theater. Three teens were injured, but Jeremy Miller, 18, took the worst of it. He was shot five times on his lower left side, shattering his spine and resulting in paralysis from his chest down.

Troy Price, 19, was shot once, the bullet lodged in his scapula. Destiny Garcia, 19, was hit in her left calf.

Police arrested Devante Jeffers, 18, on multiple charges, including attempted murder. Ariya Manoi, 21, who is suspected of being the shooter, is on the lam.

Police said the shooting stemmed from a high school beef between Price and Jeffers. Price believed Jeffers got him fired from his pizzeria job.

■ On Saturday, Trent Wilcox, 25, and Carlos Heredia-Avalos, 23, were arrested after a man was stabbed several times in an elevator at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay. The man and his wife were returning to their room about 2 a.m. when Wilcox and Heredia-Avalos got on the elevator and were immediately confrontational, the victim’s wife told police.

She told police Wilcox and Heredia-Avalos tried to intimidate them and swore at her. The suspects left the elevator but then returned and said they would follow the couple to their room, the police report said.

Wilcox put the man in a choke hold while Heredia-Avalos began stabbing him, according to the police report. Heredia-Avalos accidentally stabbed Wilcox a few times during the struggle, the report said.

The victim’s wife pushed the emergency button on the elevator, and hotel security arrested the suspects, according to the report .

Police spokesman Jose Hernandez said Thursday that the Strip is safe and that in each of the recent incidents, there was a connection between the suspects and victims.

“Those were not random attacks,” Hernandez said.

Sheriff Doug Gillespie said Thursday’s incident is a rare occurrence for any large city. Las Vegas — and the Strip — are safe places to live and visit, he said.

“What happened on the Strip today will not be tolerated,” Gillespie said. “There are no absolutes when people’s behavior is in question.”

In a statement, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor’s Authority noted that police statistics show “violent crime in the tourism corridor was down approximately 13 percent in 2012 and is down nearly 11 percent so far this year. Las Vegas continues to be a safe place to visit.”

“Recent incidents, while unfortunate, were isolated events,’’ according to the visitor authority. “Las Vegas is among the safest travel destinations in the world and utilizes the most advanced technology and training to maintain a secure environment.”

Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638.