How the Las Vegas Strip responded to its vehicle-hitting attack

Posted: January 2, 2025, 11:32 pm.

Last updated: January 2, 2025, 02:56 pm.

A day after the deadliest vehicle-carrying attack in the United States, in New Orleans, it is worth revisiting how Las Vegas responded to its own vehicle-carrying attack nine years ago.

On December 20, 2015, a woman drove her 1996 Oldsmobile sedan onto the sidewalk near the Paris Las Vegas, killing 32-year-old Arizona tourist Jessica Valenzuela and injuring 37 others.

In response, Clark County installed cement bollards along the length of the Las Vegas Strip, from north of the Welcome to Las Vegas sign to Sahara Avenue.

At a cost to taxpayers of more than $22 million, 5,600 crash-rated bollards were installed between 2017 and 2019 in addition to 640 linear feet of crash-rated post and cable protection and 1,635 linear feet of concrete crash wall.

According to Kimley-Horn, the North Carolina engineering consultancy firm that designed the bollards, they “provide a total of more than eight miles of pedestrian protection on this corridor.”

The bollards were strategically placed to protect the Strip's busiest intersections. However, they do not eliminate every conceivable point where a vehicle could access the sidewalk – especially in areas where driveways or other access points exist.

Suspicious

The alleged driver was from Portland, Ore. The resident was 24-year-old Lakeisha Holloway, who had been living out of her car in Las Vegas about a week before the incident.

She told police at the time that she was “in pain and she wanted others to feel the pain too.” Holloway's 3-year-old daughter was in the car during the incident but was not injured.

Prosecutors say Holloway was above Nevada's legal limit for marijuana at the time (2 nanograms per milliliter of blood for THC or 5 nanograms per milliliter of THC metabolite).

He was charged with 71 counts, including murder by use of a deadly weapon, child abuse, attempted murder and leaving the scene of an accident. However, her case was complicated by mental health problems that led to her being confined to a state psychiatric hospital.

In March 2021, he was deemed competent to stand trial. In May 2023, Holloway rejected a plea bargain, representing herself and requesting a different public defender, which could have avoided a trial.

His trial is currently scheduled to begin in March, nearly 10 years after his alleged crime.