LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The man accused of stabbing eight people on the Las Vegas Strip, killing two, had asked a group of showgirls to take a photo with a foot-long kitchen knife he was trying to sell before stabbing them, documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained said Friday.
Yoni Barrios, 32, appeared in court Friday afternoon. A judge ordered him to remain in custody without bail until his next court date, which was scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 11.
Barrios had arrived from Las Vegas from California earlier in the 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 go back home, according to the arrest report.
The coroner’s office identified Brent Allan Hallett, 47, and Maris Mareen DiGiovanni, 30, both of Las Vegas, as the two people who died in the attack. Six others were injured.
Sunrise Hospital Trauma Center received two of the stabbing victims. As of Saturday afternoon, both are in good condition, according to the hospital.
According to the arrest report, Barrios went to the Wynn casino to ask about job opportunities as a janitor. He told police he even asked the janitor to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, so he could return to Guatemala.
Sources told the 8 News Now Investigators that police believe Barrios was in the United States illegally, though he had lived in California for some time.
Barrios then left the Wynn and approached a group of showgirls near the main entrance to the casino on Las Vegas Boulevard.
Barrios told the group of showgirls he was a chef. One of the showgirls told the police that Barrios asked to take a picture with the group with his knife. He thought the women were laughing at him and making fun of his clothing and he said it made him angry and he “stabbed one of the women in the chest,” the report stated.
DiGiovanni, who was in the group, died at the hospital. Another woman in the group, who attempted to help Digiovanni, was stabbed in the back. The stabbings were reported to police by numerous 911 callers starting at 11:42 a.m.
After the stabbing involving the group, Barrios ran off, stabbing six others, including Hallett, as he ran along the sidewalk from Las Vegas Boulevard to Sands Avenue where he threw the bloody knife in some bushes, police said.
After he was taken into custody, Barrios told police he “was hoping 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.
