WASHINGTON — A teenage girl competing in a barrel racing event was arrested over the weekend after she allegedly stabbed three competition horses at a barn in Las Vegas, according to police and event organizers.
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The incident has shocked members of the equestrian community who say they knew the girl.
Police responded to a report of an injured horse early Saturday morning at South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa, a hotel about 8 miles from the Strip with a massive equestrian center.
Detectives with the animal cruelty division identified a 17-year-old girl who had access to the barn as a possible suspect. The teenager, whom police did not identify, was booked on 12 counts related to animal maiming and torture and three counts of malicious destruction of private property, according to police and South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa.
Clark County Barrel Racing Association President Tilly Jenski told Las Vegas TV station KTNV that she knew the suspect and “my initial thought was disbelief.”
“My first question was— Are you sure? Is there a video? Are we 100% sure? This doesn’t seem like it’s real,” Jenski recounted to KTNV.
She told the TV station that the 17-year-old suspect, who she competed against during the event, had a “huge heart for horses. Her passion, her entire life, she lived and breathed horses.”
Jenski also revealed the suspect had sent her a text during the course of the weekend, before the teen’s arrest.
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“She messaged me my run and sent me a video. I competed at 9 a.m., and she had sent me the text at 1 a.m. I saw it the next morning, and my phone was already ringing,” she told KTNV.
According to 8 News Now, prosecutors may seek to move the case from the juvenile system into the adult court system. The teen is set to appear in a juvenile courtroom Thursday, June 4, 8 News Now reported.
In social media posts, three competitors described finding their horses with multiple stab wounds.
Arielle Phillips said in a Facebook post that she had seen the suspect hanging around the barn where her horse, Detail, was boarded, shortly after midnight. Phillips said she left and returned to the barn minutes later to find the girl hosing off her horse’s bloody wounds.
A vet confirmed Detail was stabbed multiple times, she said.
“She is traumatized,” Phillips wrote of her horse. “Every time she runs away from the approach of my hand, I burst into tears.”
Hailey Krahenbuhl’s horse, Saaul Good, known as “Sully,” also had multiple stab wounds, she said in a Facebook post. They were a dominant duo in U.S. barrel racing and won first place in their division Friday, hours before the attack, according to the National Barrel Horse Association. Krahenbuhl took home $1,805 for the win, the organization’s scoreboard said.
A third horse, Rocket, was stabbed three times, according to the owner.
The horses’ injuries were not considered life-threatening, but they’re not expected to be able to compete for some time.
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CNN Newsource and the Associated Press contributed to this report.