A teenage girl is facing multiple charges after allegedly stabbing three horses at a Las Vegas rodeo.
WASHINGTON — A teenage girl who competed in barrel racing was arrested over the weekend. She allegedly stabbed three racing horses at a barn in Las Vegas, according to police and event organizers.
The incident shocked members of the equestrian community, who said they knew the girl.
Early Saturday morning, police responded to a report of an injured horse at the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa, which houses a large equestrian center about eight miles from the Las Vegas Strip.
Detectives with the Animal Cruelty Unit identified a 17-year-old girl who had entered the barn as a possible suspect. The teen, whose identity police have not revealed, was booked on 12 counts of animal maiming and torture and three counts of malicious damage to private property, according to police and the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa.
Clark County Barrel Racing Association President Tillie Janski Tell Las Vegas TV station KTNV She knew the suspect and “my initial thought was disbelief.”
“My first question was – are you sure? Is there a video? Are we 100 percent sure? It doesn’t look like it’s real,” Jenski recalled to KTNV.
She told the station that the 17-year-old suspect who competed against her in the competition “had a huge heart for horses. Her passion, her whole life, she lived and breathed horses.”
Janski also revealed that the suspect sent her a text message the weekend before the teen’s arrest.
“She texted me running information and she sent me a video. I was running at 9 a.m. and she texted me at 1 a.m. and I saw it the next morning and my phone was ringing,” she told KTNV.
According to 8 Newsprosecutors may seek to move the case from the juvenile court system to the adult court system. The teen will appear in juvenile court on Thursday, June 4. 8 news reports.
In social media posts, three competitors described how they found their horses with multiple puncture wounds.
Arielle Phillips posted on Facebook that she saw the suspect wandering near the barn, where her horse, Detail, was parked shortly after midnight. Phillips said she left and returned to the barn minutes later to find the girl washing her horse’s bleeding wounds with clean water.
She said a veterinarian confirmed Detail had been stabbed multiple times.
“She was traumatized,” Phillips wrote of her horse. “Every time she escapes my hands, I burst into tears.”
Hailey Krahenbuhl posted on Facebook that her horse, Saaul Good, also suffered multiple stab wounds. They are the dominant duo in barrel racing in the United States and won first place in their respective categories on Friday, hours before the attack, according to the National Barrel Horse Association. The organization’s scoreboard said Krahenbuhl earned $1,805 for the win.
The third horse, Rocket, was stabbed three times, according to the owner.
The horses’ injuries are not life-threatening, but they are expected to be sidelined for some time.
CNN Newsource and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
