Wednesday, February 4, 2026
ADVT 
National

At Least 2 Canadians In Hospital After Driver Hits Pedestrians In Las Vegas

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 21 Dec, 2015 11:19 AM
    A hospital spokeswoman says two Canadians are among five people in either critical or serious condition after a woman intentionally drove her car into pedestrians on a sidewalk outside a Las Vegas casino.
     
    Danita Cohen of the University Medical Centre of Southern Nevada tells The Canadian Press that three of the five are in critical condition and two are in serious condition.
     
    She could not elaborate on the health of the two Canadians.
     
    Las Vegas police say one person was killed and 26 other people were sent to hospital after the Sunday evening incident.
     
    They say several Canadians were injured.
     
    Police do not believe it was an act of terrorism.
     
    Cohen says four men and a woman are also in fair condition at another facility, the Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.
     
    The driver, who is in her 20s, "went up and off these streets, two or possibly three times," Lt. Dan McGrath said, striking people on a busy sidewalk outside the Paris and Planet Hollywood casino-hotels.
     
    A three-year-old child was in the vehicle with her but was not hurt, said Capt. Brett Zimmerman.
     
    Police did not give a possible motive but said they would release more information at a 1 p.m. news conference.
     
    At least two of the injured Canadians were from Montreal, Cohen said.
     
    News reports indicated one of the injured was 21-year-old Anthony Hamel, from Delson, near Montreal.
     
     
    Reports said he was released from hospital but that his relatives had been more seriously injured.
     
    Jessica Valenzuela, 32, of Buckeye, Arizona, died in the crash, according to Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg. The suburban Phoenix woman was visiting Las Vegas with her husband, the coroner said.
     
    Justin Cochrane, a visitor from Santa Barbara, Calif., said he was having dinner at a sidewalk restaurant outside the Paris hotel when he saw the car smashing into pedestrians.
     
    "It was just massacring people," he said, adding that the car appeared to be going 50 and 65 km/h.
     
    Cochrane said he couldn't understand why the car went into the crowd a second time.
     
    "Why would it slow to go around and then accelerate again?" he said. "I thought, 'It's a crazy person.'"
     
    Cochrane said he saw children and adults injured on the ground as the car drove away.
     
    The pedestrians were not in the road and were not at fault, police said.
     
    Joel Ortega, 31, of Redlands, Calif., said he and his wife, Carla, were visiting for the weekend and found themselves blocked from walking on the sidewalk toward the Paris hotel. They could see police investigating about a block away from the crash.
     
    "At first, I thought it was a movie shoot," he said. "I thought maybe we'd see someone famous."
     
    But then they learned that it was a crash scene. Ortega said it made them remember how their Redlands neighbourhood was disrupted after the Dec. 2 mass shooting in nearby San Bernardino, Calif.
     
    The crash comes months after another woman was accused of driving into a crowd during Oklahoma State's homecoming parade. Four people were killed and more than 40 were hurt Oct. 24.
     
     
    In September 2005, three tourists were killed and nearly a dozen injured when a car barrelled through the crowd on the Las Vegas Strip and crashed into a cement barrier in front of Bally's hotel-casino.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Drugs, Weapons Issues At B.C. Group Homes That Cared For Teen Who Died: Report

    VICTORIA — Newly released government documents say drugs and weapons were among the concerns at former private group homes operated by a company that cared for an 18-year-old before his death.

    Drugs, Weapons Issues At B.C. Group Homes That Cared For Teen Who Died: Report

    Transport Agency Reprimands Air Canada Over 'Paternalistic' Deaf-Blind Policy

    Carrie Moffatt booked a flight from Vancouver to Victoria in 2013 with her guide dog when she was informed she would have to fly with an attendant.

    Transport Agency Reprimands Air Canada Over 'Paternalistic' Deaf-Blind Policy

    Former B.C. Solicitor General Says Police Board Also To Blame In Chief Debacle

    Former B.C. Solicitor General Says Police Board Also To Blame In Chief Debacle
    VICTORIA — A former British Columbia solicitor general says Victoria's police board should shoulder some of the blame after the city's police chief admitted to sending inappropriate Twitter messages to the wife of a subordinate officer.

    Former B.C. Solicitor General Says Police Board Also To Blame In Chief Debacle

    Three Questions About Negative, Benchmark Interest Rates: What Would It Mean?

    Three Questions About Negative, Benchmark Interest Rates: What Would It Mean?
    The Bank of Canada says it would consider bumping its trend-setting interest rate into negative territory if the country ever faced a major economic shock, although governor Stephen Poloz said such a move is unlikely.

    Three Questions About Negative, Benchmark Interest Rates: What Would It Mean?

    Canada's Environment Minister Optimistic Deal Will Be Reached In Paris

    Canada's Environment Minister Optimistic Deal Will Be Reached In Paris
    "I see some progress but there are some countries that have real difficulties on a more ideological basis, so we're trying to work around that," McKenna told a news conference on Wednesday.

    Canada's Environment Minister Optimistic Deal Will Be Reached In Paris

    Nova Scotia Health Minister Issues Apology In The Death Of Gay Rights Activist

    Nova Scotia Health Minister Issues Apology In The Death Of Gay Rights Activist
    Nova Scotia's health and wellness minister issued a formal apology today for a mistake that led to the fatal beating death of a prominent gay rights activist outside a Halifax bar more than three years ago.

    Nova Scotia Health Minister Issues Apology In The Death Of Gay Rights Activist