Stabbing at Las Vegas Strip Casino Lands One Man in Jail

Posted on: April 14, 2021, 04:31h.

Last updated on: July 5, 2021, 08:29h.

Larry Henry Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Gaming Business, Legislation, Politics, Regulation.

A Las Vegas man remains behind bars this week after being arrested in a stabbing at a hotel-casino on the Strip.

Chris Okoronkwo, 33, is is being held in the Clark County Detention Center, awaiting an April 27 hearing in Las Vegas Justice Court. He faces charges of attempted murder, assault, and battery with a deadly weapon in the April 8 incident at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. The Cosmopolitan is on the west side of the Strip, just south of the Bellagio.

Security officers at the resort disarmed Okoronkwo after a 5 am fight that left one man hospitalized with three stab wounds. After undergoing surgery, the victim was expected to survive, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

“The victim’s injuries required a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, which could have resulted in death if not applied,” police wrote in a report.

Okoronkwo said he had gone with a friend to the Cosmopolitan to meet women and to gamble, according to KTNV-TV.

The two friends met three women and two other men. The group then went to a guest room on the 37th floor.

Sexual Aggression

In the room, a fight broke out after one women said one of the men was too aggressive sexually, the television station reported

During the fight, one man was stabbed. Another man, identified as a Californian over the age of 60, was knocked unconscious.

Security officers responding to the incident saw Okoronkwo punch the older man, who fell and hit his head on a wall. Police said they also saw Okoronkwo stab the second man, according to media accounts.

Okoronkwo attempted to flee, but security officers grabbed the knife out of his hand and took him into custody. Authorities at the resort contacted the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, known locally as Metro.

The suspect told Metro he had been attempting to quell an argument in the room when he was struck.

Okoronkwo said he had been drinking and couldn’t remember exactly what happened, according to KTNV-TV.

He denied having a knife and could not explain the knife in his possession when Cosmopolitan security detained him,” according to police.

In February, Okoronkwo was charged in a separate incident in Las Vegas involving assault with a deadly weapon, the newspaper reported.

Surge in Violence

The knife attack at the Cosmopolitan is one of several violent incidents on or near the Strip since the beginning of the year.

In January, one man was shot outside the Venetian Resort on the east side of the Strip. The gunman and a second man were taken into custody. The victim was hospitalized in critical but stable condition.

Also in January, a man was shot in the parking lot at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. The Rio is just west of the Strip, behind Caesars Palace. After multiple surgeries, the victim survived. One man was arrested in the incident.

In addition, a 57-year-old retired Connecticut State Police Trooper died after a man punched him in an incident that happened in late February near the Strip and Flamingo Road. A short time after the attack, a suspect was arrested.