LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Several Las Vegas showgirls spoke out a day after they were attacked on the Las Vegas Strip, when police said a man randomly stabbed eight people, killing two.
Hours after she was stabbed and left with a punctured lung, Anna Westby shared her harrowing story with 8 News Now.
“I’m screaming, asking everyone for help,” Westby recalled through tears. “He caught up to me, and he stabbed me in the back and then he ran off.”
She is one of four showgirls attacked Thursday morning when police said 32-year-old Yoni Barrios went after them and killed fellow showgirl Maris DiGiovanni, who was stabbed in the chest.
“I got up, and I started running,” showgirl Victoria Caytano recalled. ‘And I started yelling, ‘he has a knife!'”
Caytano had just started the job and was only on her ninth shift when the worst happened. She’s now home from the hospital, but emotionally, she said she’s anything but okay.
“I just I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me,” Caytano said, recalling when she was also stabbed.
A tight-knit group, managed by Cheryl Lowthorp, owner of ‘Best Showgirls in Vegas,’ unsure how to move forward after 12 years of safety in the business.
“This is a safe job, there are cops everywhere,” Lowthorp said. “No place is filmed more than the Las Vegas Strip.”
They told 8 News Now they are now focusing on being there for each other and remembering Maris.
“She was exceptional,” Lowthorp remembered DiGiovanni. “She was exceptional, she was on fire and beautiful and smart and radiant.”
This is while trying to cope with the idea that something so horrible could happen.
“Knowing that someone could do something like this without ever being provoked,” Westby concluded. “It makes me question everything.”
Lowthorp has started a GoFundMe to help all the girls affected by this tragedy and DiGiovanni’s family has also started a fundraiser for her funeral expenses.
