Nevada prosecutors are seeking to try a 17-year-old girl as an adult after she allegedly stabbed three show horses at a weekend rodeo in Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department arrested the minor on Saturday following the incidents at the National Barrel Horse Association (NBHA) supershow held at the South Point equestrian arena.
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Prosecution Seeks Adult Charges
Clark County District Attorney Steven Wolfson announced that his office wants to prosecute the teenager under adult charges of willful or malicious killing, maiming, or torturing an animal, along with three counts of felony malicious destruction of private property.
“These allegations involve deliberate acts of extreme cruelty against defenseless animals and have had a significant impact on the victims, the owners, and the broader equestrian community,” Wolfson said.
Police said the suspect used a sharp object to inflict multiple injuries on three horses named Detail, Rocket, and Saaul Good.
The injuries are not considered life-threatening but are expected to prevent the horses from competing.
“The teen had access to the barn, and investigators believe she may have used a knife to inflict multiple injuries to the horses,” the police department stated.
Arielle Phillips, owner and rider of Detail, said the suspect had been following her on social media for a long time and used the event to track them down.
“Last night at 11pm I was sitting with Detail at her stall for an hour,” Phillips said.
She noted that security camera footage showed the suspect entering the stables just minutes after the horse was locked up for the night.
“This girl came by twice trying to make conversation and ask weird questions. She had no business hanging out in [the] barn,” Phillips added.
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According to Phillips, the suspect remained in the barn after the attack and later called her boyfriend’s daughter to claim she found the stall door open and the horse shaking.
“Impossible! I latch and triple wrap the latch before I leave,” Phillips said.
She discovered the girl hosing down the injured horse, and a veterinarian treated Detail’s puncture wounds at 2:30 a.
m.
Phillips expressed deep distress over the psychological impact on her horse.
“Detail, the mare that would walk away from a fresh pile of hay just to come greet me and love on me, she now does not let me even put my hands near her.
She is traumatized,” she said.
The suspect was apprehended later Saturday morning at a nearby hotel. Another injured horse, Sully, was hurt right after winning a race, according to NBC News.
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The National Barrel Horse Association called it “an isolated incident … involving the mistreatment of a limited number of equine athletes by an event competitor.”
