A blackjack dealer was arrested for stabbing another blackjack dealer in the face at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas.
Brenda J. Stokes, 50, was arrested after stabbing a female co-worker. It is not clear what the motive for the attack was. The unidentified victim was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center to be treated for deep facial wounds.
Witnesses said the fight broke out at around 9:45 p.m. in the Blackjack pit. A blade was confiscated from the scene but it is not clear if it was a knife, a box cutter or another type of small blade. Police arrived within minutes and took Stokes into custody.
Stokes is being held at the Clark County Detention. She faces charges for "burglary; battery with a deadly weapon; battery with use of a deadly weapon with substantial bodily harm, and mayhem," according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.
It is not clear if the two women were working at the same time or if one was working and one was off duty.
Shortly after the incident, the Blackjack pit was reopened to casino visitors.
This is the second incident of violence to occur in a week in Las Vegas. A man opened fire on a woman at the Excalibur Hotel-Casino in a murder-suicide last week. Edward Brandt, 30, of Lake Forest, Ill., walked into the casino and shot and killed Jessica Kenny who was a concierge at Excalibur. Brandt then turned the gun on himself.
Metro Officer Marcus Martin said violent events taking place in casinos doesn't happen often.
"I gotta say, if you look at the people we serve, the tourists and the locals, events like these do happen on the streets in Las Vegas. But this latest sort of stuff? Inside casinos? Just off the Strip? This is rare," Martin told the Las Vegas Review Journal.
The Bellagio is a high-end hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. At Blackjack Pit No. 2, where the incident took place, a minimum bet is $100 and a maximum is $1,000.
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