Victims recount stabbing spree on Las Vegas Strip

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - In a tearful interview with victims of the Las Vegas stabbing spree, two showgirl impersonators describe the moments before and after the unexpected attack.

Anna Westby struggled to breath as she is still recovering from a punctured lung.

From her hospital room she described what happened on Thursday when a man approached her and the group of showgirl impersonators about taking a picture with them.

“He asked for a photo and Maris said yes. He asked for a photo with his logo, Maris said yes he then pulled out the knife and we’re like that’s not a logo,” Westby said.

Within seconds they looked at each other and Westby then says the man stabbed Maris in the heart. Westby and Maris ran in the same direction while Victoria, one of the other girls in the group ran in another. Westby said Maris collapsed 15 feet from where she was stabbed.

“There was just a lot of blood everywhere and I told this man to give me his shirt so I took his shirt and I held it against her wound and pressed down on it and tried to stop the bleeding,” Westby said.

A bystander told Westby she had been stabbed in the back so she asked him to apply pressure while she applies pressure for Maris.

“I started losing consciousness because I was losing so much blood. And so I laid my head on Maris’s chest and I noticed there she stopped breathing,” Westby said.

According to the arrest report, Las Vegas police say the suspect approached the group of strip performers dressed as Showgirls outside the Wynn hotel. The suspect asked if he could take a picture with them and with his knife. The suspect told officers he believed the group was “making fun of him.” Westby said they did no such thing.

“There was no- not a single moment where he was provoked -where- no there was no one making fun of anyone,” Westby said.

She said there was no reason Maris had to die. She said the suspect knew what he was doing.

“He had every intention on killing her and killing us,” Westby said.

While she’s recovering at the hospital, Victoria Cayetano, who was also stabbed in the back, is recovering from home.

“I really don’t know how to feel at the moment, everybody keeps asking me like are you feeling ok are you feeling fine?,” Cayetano said.

The 19-year-old said she had only been on the job for nine months.

“It just happened so fast like I couldn’t believe it- because I didn’t see it happen like I just – like I still don’t know what to feel or what to think,” Cayetano said.

Copyright 2022 KVVU. All rights reserved.