On Tuesday, a Guatemalan man suspected of being in the United States illegally was formally charged in connection with the tragic stabbing spree on the Las Vegas Strip last week.
Yoni Barrios, 32, was charged with two counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder on Tuesday for his fatal rampage last Thursday on the Las Vegas Strip.
Five women posed as showgirls and a group of visitors were allegedly attacked with a 12-inch knife outside the Wynn Las Vegas, according to the prosecution.
According to the police report, he claimed he wanted to “get the rage out” because he believed people were laughing at him for wanting to snap a picture with the showgirls.
Maris DiGiovanni, 30, and Brent Hallett, 47, were killed during the attack, and four additional showgirls and two tourists were injured.
Barrios is currently being held without bail until the Office of the Public Defender determines whether he is competent to stand trial.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Deputy Public Defender Scott Coffee stated at the arraignment, “I’m not sure he would be able to answer those questions on his competency.”
He stated that Barrios would now be interrogated by psychologists, and Coffee intends to get a determination regarding Barrios’s ability to stand trial before to the January 12 preliminary hearing.
According to KNTV, prosecutors have between 30 and 60 days to consider whether to pursue the death penalty.
Yoni Barrios, 32, was charged with two counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder on Tuesday for his fatal rampage last Thursday on the Las Vegas Strip.
Presently, he is being held without bond while attorneys evaluate whether he is competent to stand trial.
Outside the Wynn Las Vegas, according to prosecutors, he attacked four women posed as showgirls and a group of visitors with a 12-inch knife.
The Public Defenders Office, led by Scott Coffee, left, and Jeff Maningo, right, are representing him.
Maris Mareen Digiovanni, 30, was fatally stabbed during the daylight attack, which also claimed the life of 47-year-old Brent Allan Hallett.
In court, a suspect in a multi-victim stabbing
The person accused of killing two individuals and wounded six others in a mass stabbing is being arraigned in court. https://www.ktnv.com/news/crime/suspect-in-mass-stabbing-set-to-be-arraigned-in-court
KTNV Channel 13 Action News published on Tuesday, October 11, 2022
The authorities report that Barrios’ rampage began at 11:40 a.m. local time, when the showgirls were reportedly welcoming tourists in front of the Wynn.
The guy reportedly informed the girls he was a chef while wearing a white chef’s jacket with long sleeves and brandishing a knife.
He apparently informed the showgirls he wanted a photo with them, and when they refused, he began stabbing them.
KNTV reported that several of the victims fled the area after the suspect stabbed them before fleeing.
Captain Dori Koren of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police stated that eight persons were stabbed before Barrios ran down Las Vegas Boulevard in the direction of Sands Boulevard.
The Sands security guard detained him until the police arrived, and he was arrested’very swiftly,’ according to Koren.
Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement later told FOX News that Barrios is illegally present in the United States.
Court documents obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com showed that he was charged with criminal domestic abuse by former Los Angeles district attorney Jackie Lacey in 2019.
According to a criminal docket for Barrios obtained by DailyMail.com, he was charged with domestic abuse against a spouse, cohabitant, or fellow parent in July 2019.
If charged as a felony, offenders face a maximum of four years in jail.
According to Barrios’s charging document, the alleged incident occurred on August 18, 2018.
A year later, Lacey filed the lawsuit, but the first pre-trial hearing was not held until April 8, 2021, more than two years later.
Barrios is accused of being illegally present in the United States and has a criminal record in California. Here is a photo of his mugshot.
According to court documents, Barrios pled not guilty and the case went to trial, but the judge dismissed it the same day because it had languished too long in the legal system.
The case is dismissed based on California Penal Codes 1381, 1381.5, and 1382, according to the LA Superior Court docket.
The California Penal Code stipulates that prosecutors must bring a felony case to trial within sixty days of filing an indictment.
‘Unless sufficient cause to the contrary is proven, the court shall dismiss the action in the following circumstances… PC 1382 states that a defendant is not brought to trial within 60 days of his or her arraignment in a felony case.
If Barrios had been placed on trial immediately after the case was filed in July 2019 and convicted, he could have been sentenced to up to four years in jail and would not have been free to perpetrate the alleged two murders and six attempted murders for which he was charged this week.
A Los Angeles DA union executive disputed Lacey’s office “failed to bring him to trial” despite the docket information.
Eric Siddall, Vice President of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys, stated to DailyMail.com, “If the court threw out the case, it was likely due to witness difficulties.”
Images and video captured at the scene of the October 6 stabbing depict a showgirl being placed in an ambulance.
At 11.40 a.m. local time, while the showgirls were reportedly greeting tourists outside the Wynn Casino, the attack reportedly occurred, according to authorities.
Following the attack, he escaped to Sands Boulevard in the south.
Two days before the terrible event, Barrios was supposedly seen on tape by a Los Angeles television news station pleading for assistance from the cameraman.
He repeatedly told me, “I just want a chance, I just want to start over” Jorge Lopez, a cameraman for Telemundo 52, alerted his station about the tragic incident.
Last Tuesday, while on assignment in downtown Los Angeles near city hall, Lopez was approached by a man who introduced himself as Yoni Barrios.
Barrios approached Lopez in Spanish, claiming he had just lost his home and all of his possessions.
Barrios later informed the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police that he traveled to the city to move in with a friend, who ultimately refused to allow him to stay.
The individual then packed his belongings and boarded a bus to the strip where the massacre occurred.
According to a report published by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the suspect informed police he was from Guatemala and wanted ICE to take him home (LVMPD).
Two days before the fatal stabbing, he was captured on tape by a Los Angeles television news network pleading for the cameraman’s assistance.
Photos and videos from the scene depicted what seemed to be a showgirl lying in a pool of blood outside the resort.
Other images showed a woman being taken away on a stretcher while paramedics desperately worked on her in front of terrified bystanders.
At least one victim was brought to University Medical Center, where tearful family members were observed entering.
Speaking to the media in the immediate aftermath, Metropolitan Police Department Deputy Chief James LaRochelle stated, ‘As you can imagine, we have dozens of witnesses whose statements we must continue to collect, as well as a number of video surveillance to review in the near future.’
He recounted a brief video showing the guy stabbing the showgirls and then traveling south to stab another victim.
Witnesses pursued him before to his arrest.
The police then raided the Venetian resort and arrested Barrios with blood on his sleeves.
Other images showed a woman being taken away on a stretcher while paramedics desperately worked on her in front of terrified bystanders.
At least one victim was brought to University Medical Center, where tearful family members were observed entering.
LaRochelle stated at the news conference, “We would want to express our deepest sympathies to the victims and their families.”
He continued, “This is obviously a really unfortunate and difficult to grasp murder investigation that has a profound impact on our community.”
Cole Jordan, Maris DiGiovanni’s 29-year-old husband, gathered for a vigil after her passing.
He fought back tears near a collage of photographs and flickering candles of his deceased wife.
Before arriving to Las Vegas two years ago, the two had traveled the world together.
The tragedy struck Carmelita Hallett, Brent’s wife, after 28 years of marriage, just as they were beginning to enjoy their retirement together.
At the height of the COVID outbreak 18 months ago, the couple from Alberta, Canada, decided to retire early and take a trip across the world, according to Global News.
Their final destination would be Las Vegas, where they were wed in 1999 and where they desired to spend the most time.
They were scheduled to return to Alberta in 15 days when Brent was stabbed on the Las Vegas Strip on October 6.
Carmelita remembered the moments following the fatal stabbing: “He just turned to me and said, “I don’t think I’m going to make it.”
Carmelita’s aunt Andrea Benoit regarded Brent as a humorous individual.
She stated, “He could make you laugh at the simplest things.” Brent possessed a terrific soul and spirit.
He gave joy and amusement to a large number of individuals.
Brent was a former businessman who spent the majority of his time in Edmonton and central Alberta.
According to his loved ones, he cherished his wife, his family, and his pets above everything else.
He adored all animals, including donkeys, rabbits, and other other species.
His family is currently establishing an animal rescue organization in his honor.
Until then, according to Hallett’s family, anyone wishing to honor his memory may make contributions to the House Rabbit Society in his name.
Last week, DiGiovanni was among the showgirls attacked outside the Wynn Casino.
She is remembered as the “soul of any party” who “illuminated every space she touched.”
DiGiovanni grew up in Spokane, Washington, where she enjoyed sledding and building snowmen in the winter and watching the sunset in the summer.
According to the Reno Gazette Journal, after graduating from Washington State University, she began touring the world and forming lifelong acquaintances throughout Europe and Asia.
Before moving to Las Vegas two years ago, she and her 29-year-old husband, Cole Jordan, lived in Hong Kong for some time.
Her brother, Gage DiGiovanni, told the Journal that it was a “natural next home base” for Maris due to her “love for concerts and festivals.”
“Maris was always the light of the party,” he stated, adding, “She had a great personality and energy, and we shall miss her forever.”
Maris is survived by Gage, her husband Cole, as well as a younger brother, her parents and a sister-in-law.
Cheryl Lowthorp, the 52-year-old proprietor of Best Showgirls in Las Vegas, paid tribute to her slain employee by describing her as “courageous and caring.”
She also urged acceptance of outsiders like Barrios, telling the crowd, “This is what happens when individuals don’t feel embraced for who and what they are.”
Lowthorp has also created a GoFundMe account to help Maris’s funeral expenses and the other girl’s medical expenses. At the time of writing, more than $36,000 has been raised.
She stated on the fundraising page, “Our showgirl family has been grievously hurt, and Maris Digiovanni’s lovely soul has been taken.”
Three additional girls have been wounded and hospitalized, but their lives have been spared.
Ariel Bongard, a close friend who shared her Las Vegas home with Maris and Cole at the time of her death, has created a second GoFundMe page.
It referred to her as a ‘light in the world’ who illuminated every area she touched.
Her legacy will endure, and we will always remember her.