Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Baby killed, woman wounded in random attack

Police say second woman found in nearby house suffered stab wounds

Homicide

Steve Marcus

Officials investigate a homicide scene involving an assault that left a child dead near San Pedro Avenue and 17th Street Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010.

Updated Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010 | 8 p.m.

Click to enlarge photo

Metro Police Homicide Lt. Lew Roberts speaks to reporters as police investigate an assault that left a child dead near San Pedro Avenue and 17th Street Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010.

Attack location

UPDATED STORY: Police: Ax attack suspect went for officer’s gun; infant ID’ed

A woman was pushing a baby in a stroller Thursday morning when a man, reportedly armed with an ax, attacked them at random, killing the child and critically injuring the woman, Metro Police said.

A second woman also suffered stab wounds in a separate attack, police said.

A suspect, identified as Harold Montagu, 33, of Las Vegas was taken into custody, police said. No further information was released about Montagu or whether he has been charged in the attack.

Officers responded at 11:51 a.m. to the 1600 block of San Pedro Avenue, near Sahara Avenue and South Maryland Parkway, where they found a woman on the sidewalk and an upturned stroller in the street.

The woman and the baby, who was inside the stroller, suffered wounds to the body and head consistent with an ax attack, police said.

The baby, about 4 months old, was pronounced dead at the scene. The woman, tentatively identified as the child’s mother, was taken to Sunrise Trauma Center in extremely critical condition, police said.

Their names were not immediately released.

Witnesses said the suspect had fled into a house, and as officers approached the residence, the suspect exited — without an ax — and attacked one of the officers, police said.

After a brief struggle in which the officer suffered minor injuries, Montagu was taken into custody, police said.

Officers then located a second female victim suffering from apparent multiple stab wounds in a rear bedroom of the residence, police said.

The second victim was transported to the University Medical Center, where she was in stable condition.

Police allege that Montagu initially stabbed the woman in the home then went outside, where he attacked the female and the infant in the stroller.

Montagu’s relationship with the victim inside the residence and a possible motive for that attack have not been determined, police said.

It appears the attack on the woman and infant outside the home was random, and the suspect did not know them.