Thursday, February 21, 2013

So, How Safe Is The Las Vegas Strip?



From the LVRJ: Thursday's early morning shooting and crash on the Strip that killed three people is just the latest in a rash of violent incidents on the iconic resort corridor since December.
Las Vegas police said occupants in a black Range Rover fired into a Maserati about 4:30 a.m. at Las Vegas Boulevard South and Flamingo Road. The Maserati crashed into a taxi that exploded killing two passengers in the cab. The driver of the Maserati was also killed.
Thursday's early-morning violence is the fifth high-profile crime on the Strip since December.
Police spokesman Jose Hernandez said his agency is doing everything it can to catch the suspects in Thursday's shooting and crash.
"It's a priority for us," Hernandez said. "We're definitely going to dedicate the necessary resources to continue to investigate this."
He said as for the other violence on the Strip, there has always been a connection between the suspects and victims....
The high-profile violence began last year. On Dec. 18, police said 31-year-old Edward Brandt, from Lake Forest, Ill., walked into the Excalibur at 8:30 p.m. and fatally shot his ex-girlfriend, 30-year-old Jessica Kenny.
He then turned the gun on himself. Both Kenny and Brandt died.
The shooting occurred at the busy resort on Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue. Brandt shot multiple rounds from a .38-caliber revolver registered in his name. The shooting sent people scrambling in all directions.
Police said Brandt hadn't dated Kenny in several years.
On Dec. 21, 50-year-old Brenda Stokes approached a Bellagio blackjack table and began slashing the face of a dealer, 44-year-old Joyce Rhone.
Rhone survived the attack, and Stokes was arrested.
Police later charged Stokes in the kidnaping and killing of 10-year-old Jade Morris, her ex-fiance's daughter.
Gunshots erupted on Feb. 6 just past midnight, in a garage lobby at 3785 Las Vegas Blvd. South, near the United Artists theater.
Three young teens were injured, including 18-year-old Jeremy Miller. He took the worst of it. He was shot five times on his lower left side, shattering his spine and resulting in paralysis from his chest down.
Troy Price, 19, was shot once near his neck. The bullet lodged in his scapula.
Destiny Garcia, 19, was hit in her left calf.
Police arrested 18-year-old Devante Jeffers in the shooting on multiple charges including attempted murder. Police said the suspect, thought to be the gunman, 21-year-old Ariya Manoi, is on the lam.
The shooting stemmed from a high school beef between Price and Jeffers. Price believed Jeffers got him fired from his pizzeria job, a police report said.
Two people were arrested in a Strip hotel stabbing Saturday morning.
Las Vegas police said Trent Wilcox, 25, and Carlos Heredia-Avalos, 23, stabbed a man several times in the elevator of The Hotel at Mandalay Bay.
The man and his wife were returning to their hotel room about 2 a.m. when Wilcox and Heredia-Avalos got on the elevator and were immediately confrontational, the victim's wife told police.  http://www.lvrj.com/news/deadly-shooting-fifth-violent-incident-on-strip-since-december-192328471.html
There are literally million of people that visit the Strip each year and nothing happens to them.  However, the drunker you get and the later you stay out will increase your odds of something bad happening to you, just like in most cities in the U.S..
However, we also have a large amount of people want to take your money away from you illegally, like prostitutes and their pimps, hustlers, thieves lurking in darkened areas and thieves and hoodlums that hang out in the casinos.  Finally, if you partake in illegal drugs, you run a much higher risk of being beaten up and robbed.  And the criminals have the advantage, because if you are out of state, chances are, you will not come back to Las Vegas to testify at any court hearings that may occur.
Locals avoid the Strip and Fremont St. because it is too crowded and because they don't want to deal with the thugs and other bad characters that hangout downtown.
Finally, if you wander off the Strip or Fremont St., you are very close to some bad, inner city neighborhoods, where anything can happen.
So, in the end, if you don't get plastered, don't be stupid and don't stay out past a reasonable hour, then you should be ok in Las Vegas.

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