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It was a truly heinous crime that has shocked the gambling world.
A 29-year-old man playing craps at the Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn, Washington was stabbed in the neck with a box cutter by a random stranger and later perished. There was no conversation observed prior to the attack.
The scene was far more gruesome than originally reported however.
Court documents state the wound started at the center of the man’s throat and “extended toward the right side of his neck.” The man was “spurting blood across the carpeted floor of the Casino.”
A witness, Beverly Sarmiento, described the horrifying scene to local news affiliate KIRO 7.
“Everybody was actually around a lady that was next to him because she was winning. There were a bunch of people there. And suddenly, we hear a lot of screaming. There was screaming and a guy took off his shirt, gave it to (the victim) and started pressing on (the wound).”
The murder suspect, a 31-year-old man with an extensive rap sheet, was immediately arrested and admitted to not knowing his victim.
He told police he had arrived at the casino with the intent to murder an associate of his. After wandering around the venue for more than three hours, the killer could not find the associate. Since he didn’t find his original target, he started looking for someone else to kill, according to court documents.
The suspect told officers he believed the victim was “being a bully” at a craps table and decided to kill him.
“A lot of people witnessed it and it’s just the absolute heinous act and you know there’s really no explanation for it,” Kolby Crossley, a spokesperson for Auburn Police, told KIRO 7. “Random attacks are so rare. Most of the time, it’s targeted. Since I’ve been here, which is almost three years, I haven’t heard anything like this happening.”
The suspect is being held on $5 million bail at the King County Jail but had yet to officially be charged.
Neither the suspect or victim had been identified as of Monday evening.
The victim's girlfriend, Liyh Miller Espinoza, did speak to local media and said she had talked to him about 30 minutes before the stabbing.
She received another call from him around 30 minutes later and could hear his voice and noise in the background, but he wasn't responding to her.
"That's not normal for him," she said. "It was not normal for him to not respond to me."
- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com
