Man fighting for life after stabbing at downtown Las Vegas transit center

A man was fighting for his life early Thursday after being stabbed in the face at the bus transit center in downtown Las Vegas in the latest instance of violence at Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada property.

Las Vegas police Lt. Joe LePore said at 3:47 a.m. police were called to the Bonneville Transit Center at 101 E. Bonneville Ave. at Garces Avenue. The call was for a “subject bleeding from a possible slash/stab wound.”

The victim was not very cooperative. LePore said the man was rushed to University Medical Center with “possible life threatening injury due to loss of blood.”

The victim was initially found in front of the station. It was not clear, LePore said, exactly where the stabbing occurred, but Las Vegas police had half the transit station taped off as of 5 a.m. as they investigated the crime scene. Police were looking for two people seen leaving the area on foot.

RTC

leaders have said they are continuing to invest in technology and staffing to address a rise in violence on RTC property. In August, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that a review of commission records shows the number of reported assaults on RTC property and buses rose 27 percent from the end of fiscal 2017 to the end of fiscal 2019.

Last month, Angel Reigns was charged with what police said was the unprovoked stabbing of a stranger on an RTC bus in the 1700 bock of Las Vegas Boulevard South. The victim survived.

Several acts of violence have been committed against seniors. They include:

— On Dec. 13, 2019, a military veteran in his 60s was riding a public bus when he was repeatedly punched in the head by another rider, causing the victim to lose his eye. A suspect in the case, Nathaniel Graves, was charged with mayhem, battery resulting in substantial bodily harm and abuse of an older person. Graves was 26 at the time of his arrest in January. District Court records indicate Graves agreed to plead guilty to battery resulting in substantial bodily harm, victim 60 or older with a potential sentence of one to five years in prison. Graves also is eligible for probation. Court records indicate Graves is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 9.

— On Feb. 3, police said an unidentified suspect punched a 71-year-old man on a bus in the central valley. The incident happened at Charleston Boulevard and Third Street as the victim argued with a man and woman about a seat on the bus, police said. The victim suffered a brain bleed from the attack.

— In the most serious attack last year, 74-year-old Serge Fournier suffered what proved to be fatal injuries in March 2019 after authorities said a woman pushed him off an RTC bus. Cadesha Bishop, then 25, was charged with murder. That charge still is pending, according to District Court records.

RTC Deputy CEO Francis Julien said in August that “one incident on our property or on our vehicle is one too many. It causes grave concern. Throughout the U.S. since 2008, all transit agencies have seen a steady increase as well. So we are not outliers in this situation, unfortunately.”

Julien said the commission has made significant investments to improve security for passengers in the past year.

At the center of those changes is improved technology, with an emphasis on cameras and live surveillance that streams images to the RTC security command center downtown and to Las Vegas police if needed.

The commission has completed camera upgrades in its transfer stations and is upgrading cameras on buses. Every bus has 12 cameras that offer real-time views for RTC security management.

“We have so far this year alone invested $21 million more into security,” Julien said. “We went out for a request for proposal, changed our security contractor, so now we have more officers on the street. The increase for the officer contract is an increase of 33 percent. That just started on July 1 of this year.”

The change in security contractors has translated into 13 more security officers on patrol and five more employees in the RTC security command center. The commission said it has one officer for every six buses.

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.