LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A tourist who became a stabber’s second victim at a Las Vegas Strip resort has filed a lawsuit against the hotel operator claiming negligence.
Nathaniel Mahoney, 47, stabbed Leslie Alexander, of Canal Winchester, Ohio, on Sept. 6, 2021, according to Alexander’s lawsuit and court records the 8 News Now Investigators obtained.
That morning, Alexander was walking inside the MGM Grand toward the Las Vegas Strip entrance when Mahoney stabbed her, the lawsuit said. Mahoney was sitting “at a bank of slot machines” near a women’s bathroom when the random attack occurred, documents said.
“From the vantage point of [Alexander], the attack seemed to last for several minutes, due to such attack being unexpected, unprovoked, and highly traumatic in nature,” Alexander’s attorney, F. Travis Buchanan, writes in the lawsuit. “No one from the hotel’s security force and/or its agents or employees responded to the scene, until well after the attack had taken place.”
A police officer investigating Alexander’s stabbing told her Mahoney was a suspect in an earlier stabbing the night before, documents said.
Mahoney stabbed a man shortly after midnight on Sept. 5. 2021, also inside the MGM Grand casino and lobby area, according to documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained from Metro police. MGM surveillance lost track of Mahoney after he left the property.
The first stabbing was similar to Alexander’s, with Mahoney randomly stabbing the man near the entrance and then walking off, documents said.
Police took Mahoney into custody on the Las Vegas Strip shortly after the second stabbing, documents said. An officer located a four-and-a-half-inch butterfly knife in his pocket.
Police initially arrested Mahoney on charges of battery with a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm, possession of a deadly weapon and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, documents said.
In February, Mahoney agreed to plead guilty to one count of assault with a deadly weapon, records showed. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors would recommend a prison sentence of 19-48 months.
Judge Michelle Leavitt sentenced Mahoney to the 19-48-month sentence in March. She also gave him nearly 600 days of credit for time served in jail and during his competency proceedings.
Alexander’s lawsuit claims MGM failed to protect her and other patrons. Her lawsuit asks the court to award her a minimum of $15,000 in damages, which is the standard in civil cases in Nevada.
Representatives from MGM Resorts did not immediately return a request for comment.
Person crimes, defined by Metro police as homicides, sexual offenses, or assaults, in the area command encompassing the Las Vegas Strip, were down nearly 18% from August 2022 to August 2023, records showed.
