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A lawyer who works with the person accused of committing the crime A stabbing attack He said he wants to evaluate the suspect’s mental health on the Las Vegas Strip to determine if he is fit to stand trial.
Yoni Barrios, 32, will be charged with two counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder, prosecutors said this week. A law enforcement official said investigators believe he is a Guatemalan citizen who was in the U.S. illegally.
“The first thing we have to do is determine if he’s competent to move forward,” said Public Defender Scott Coffee, who expects to be appointed to represent Mr. Barrios.
Among the victims of Thursday’s attack were women who were taking pictures with tourists and others who were nearby.
Anna Westby said she was trying to save another showgirl’s life when the attacker plunged the knife into her back.
She said she screamed for help, asking someone to apply pressure to her own wound as she tried to dab at the bleeding from Maris DiGiovanni’s chest.
Miss Westby said: “I was losing so much blood that I started to faint and I laid my head on Maris’s chest and noticed she had stopped breathing.”
Six people, including Ms. DiGiovanni, were injured and two died, as she spoke live from her hospital bed in a video provided by her employer, Best Showgirls in Vegas. The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office said the second person killed was Brent Hallett, 47, of Las Vegas.
The shooting has shaken Las Vegas, especially those who work on the Strip. Cheryl Lowthorpe, owner of Best Showgirls in Vegas, says she’s pulled 50 or more showgirls off the strip.
“We’re in recovery mode,” Ms. Lowthorpe said. “No one is free from madness.”
Mrs DiGiovanni, a 30-year-old former school teacher and world traveller, who died of chest wounds, was “beautiful, eloquent and wonderful”, Mrs Lowthorpe said.
The attack began after Mr. Barrios asked to take a photo with four showgirls, Ms. Westby and law enforcement officials said. He asked if he was holding the company logo in the photo and pulled out a knife, she said.
“Before we could even answer… she stabbed Mars in the heart,” said Miss Westby.
The women ran away but the man chased them. He stabbed another woman in the back and attacked Ms Westby, puncturing her lung. He then continued to stab others before being arrested.
Mrs Westby, who had planned to travel the world to become a flight attendant, said she did not know what she would do now.
“Knowing that someone could do something like that without being angry for no reason,” she said. “I might just be standing in one place.”
Write Zusha Ellison by zusha.elinson@wsj.com
Corrections and enhancements
Yoni Barrios will be charged with two counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder, prosecutors said. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that he had already been charged. (Edited on October 8)
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