LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Three horses were stabbed in the barn area of South Point Casino over the weekend, and police say a teenage girl is responsible.
Las Vegas police arrested the teen who had access to the barn early Saturday morning.
The National Barrel Horse Association confirmed in a statement that the suspect was a competitor in the event.
The incident occurred during a weekend barrel racing competition at the South Point Hotel.
One competing family, who did not want to be identified, said their horses were stabled a few rows down from where one of the three horses was stabbed.
“It was very shocking. I don’t think anybody has ever been through something like this before,” the mom of a competitor said.
The family said they were staying elsewhere when the incident happened.
“We were waking up, and I rushed down here to make sure my horses were not involved,” the mom said.
The competition continued through the weekend, but participants said the atmosphere was affected by the incident.
“It carried on, it still carried on the same way. Sunday was the same way. Hard to celebrate any victories when you have fellow competitors whose equine athletes were terribly attacked. It’s hard to celebrate any type of exciting win when you are coming off an event like that. Even though it wasn’t to you, we are a big family, we are supposed to be,” she said.
Competitors praised the response from South Point and the National Barrel Horse Association.
“I will give massive points to South Point and NBHA for the way they handled it. They have always been great at handling things. Nobody could have expected something like this. There were police and security everywhere. They handled it very well,” a competitor said.
FOX5 reached out to the owners of the affected horses; two of them said they could not comment.
The teen suspect appeared in court on Monday.
Her parents attended the hearing but did not comment.
LVMPD booked the teen into a juvenile detention center on 12 counts of animal abuse and three counts of destruction of property.
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