The Metropolitan Las Vegas police logo on April 06, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
A teenage girl who was competing in a National Barrel Horse Association event in Las Vegas was arrested over the weekend after three horses were attacked with a sharp object.
Big picture view:
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department arrested the teen, whose name and age were not released, without incident shortly after the crime was discovered. The police statement noted that she had access to the barn where the horses were and indicated she likely used a knife in the attack.
Timeline:
The police department was alerted to the incident shortly after 2 a.m. on Saturday when someone reported a horse had been injured at a barn in the same block as the South Point Hotel Casino and Spa, which is where a National Barrel Horse Association event was being held.
When members of the department’s Animal Cruelty Section arrived, they discovered, in fact, three horses were wounded and determined the injuries were intentional. During their investigation, they identified the teenager as a possible suspect, and she was taken into custody without incident at a nearby hotel.
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Why you should care:
The National Barrel Horse Association released a statement confirming the horses were injured early Saturday morning during its Professional’s Choice Las Vegas Super Show this weekend and described what happened as an isolated incident.
"The situation was addressed immediately in coordination with the National Barrel Horse Association, the South Point Hotel and Casino security, Metro Police, and all appropriate parties," the association wrote in a post. "The individual involved has been removed and placed in the care of authorities, and there is no ongoing threat of any kind."
What's next:
She was booked into a juvenile facility on 12 counts related to animal abuse and three more of felony destruction of private property. The police department did not indicate what may have led to the horses being stabbed.
The horses’ wounds were not considered life-threatening, but they were not expected to be able to compete in the rest of the competition, which ran through Sunday.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the National Barrel Horse Association. This story was reported from Orlando.