US teen accused of stabbing three horses at Las Vegas rodeo

A teenage girl who allegedly stabbed three show horses at a weekend rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a “crazy, obsessed stalker” who waited in a darkened barn to commit the attacks, the owner of one of the animals has said.

The Nevada city’s police department arrested a 17-year-old female on Saturday for the incidents at the National Barrel Horse Association’s supershow, a competition for the sport’s top riders at the South Point equestrian arena on the Las Vegas strip.

Arielle Phillips, the owner and rider of Detail, one of the horses that was stabbed, said the alleged perpetrator had been following her on social media “for a long time”, and saw the show as a chance to finally meet her and her mare.

“Last night at 11pm I was sitting with Detail at her stall for an hour,” Phillips said in a post on Facebook on Sunday. “This girl came by twice trying to make conversation and ask weird questions. She had no business hanging out in [the] barn.”

Phillips said the attacker struck just minutes after she left the horse latched in its stable for the night, confirmed by security camera footage that showed her entering Detail’s stall, and that of two other animals.

A statement from the Las Vegas metropolitan police department said the suspect used “a sharp object” to injure Detail, and other owners’ horses identified as Rocket and Saaul Good, nicknamed Sully.

“The teen had access to the barn, and investigators believe she may have used a knife to inflict multiple injuries to the horses,” the statement said.

“While the injuries are not considered life-threatening, they are expected to prevent the horses from competing.”

Steven Wolfson, the Clark county district attorney, said in a statement that his office was seeking to try the girl as an adult on charges of willful or malicious killing, maiming or torturing an animal; and three counts of felony malicious destruction of private property.