Pedestrians take a selfie across the street from the Paris Las Vegas after police shut down vehicle traffic on the Las Vegas Strip after a car crashed into pedestrians on the sidewalk in front of the Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

 

Reuters/AFP/Las Vegas
One person was killed and dozens injured on Sunday night when a woman deliberately drove her car onto a crowded sidewalk on the Las Vegas Strip, police said, near the hotel where the Miss Universe beauty pageant was being held.
The Las Vegas Strip, lined with casinos and fancy hotels, attracts throngs of tourists from around the world and is usually abuzz with activity.
The woman, who had a three-year-old in the car with her, was taken into custody and was expected to be charged today, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officials told reporters.
Justin Cochrane, a tourist who was having dinner on the Strip, told CNN that the sedan with a cracked windshield barreled past him at about 30mph (48kph).
The driver swerved to avoid a truck, then accelerated back onto the sidewalk, he said.
“It was mayhem, and it was very intentional,” he said. “People were flying. This child I saw, literally, hit, and the sound, I’ll never forget.”
Witness Rabia Qureshi, a tourist from Wisconsin, told the local NBC station KSNV that the vehicle in question looked like “a bowling ball and the human bodies were like pins”.
“You think it’s a show, because you’re in Vegas,” Qureshi was quoted as saying by NBC News. “But then I saw some people fly in the air.”
Police said the driver, who is in her 20s, had mounted the curb as many as three times before fleeing the scene.
“There were men running after her trying to stop the vehicle. They couldn’t get to her. They were yelling stop, and she wasn’t trying,” one witness told CNN.
CNN reported that she was being tested for drug and alcohol use.
Police – urging more witnesses to come forward – described her as an African American woman in her 20s who was driving a 1996 Oldsmobile with Oregon licence plates.
Las Vegas Deputy Police Chief Brett Zimmerman gave no indications as to a motive but ruled out the possibility of terrorism.
The United States has been on edge since 14 people were killed in a December 2 attack in San Bernardino, California, by two radicalised Muslims who opened fire at a holiday party.
Las Vegas authorities gave injury tallies ranging from 26 to 36 people, and said six who were in critical condition had been stabilised.
The young child accompanying the driver was not hurt.
The University Medical Centre treated 15 patients, with three listed as critical, two discharged and the rest in serious condition, a spokeswoman said in an e-mail.
An 11-year-old was among the injured, along with visitors from Montreal, Canada, she said.
A Reuters witness said emergency and police vehicles swarmed the area.
Some passersby were using smartphones to snap photos of the scene while others seemed more focused on the glitzy sights of the famed Strip.
Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval called the incident a “tragic and shocking event”.
Cars were diverted near the Paris Las Vegas hotel, where the Strip was shut down as first responders rushed to the scene, according to CNN.
Images from the scene showed a slew of police cars and ambulances against the backdrop of the city’s glitzy world famous hotels.
Authorities said it was likely that the Las Vegas Boulevard would remain closed for most of the night as the probe into what happened continued.
Hours after the incident, live footage showed the usually bustling Strip taped off and eerily still.
Authorities said the crash occurred around 6.40pm PST, when the Miss Universe pageant was nearing its finale at the nearby Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino.
The pageant was won by Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, 26, from the Philippines.
Organisers initially mistakenly awarded first place to Colombian Ariadna Gutierrez Arévalo, 21, who then had to give the crown back (see report on page 24).


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