The video of the event, which took place on Wednesday in Las Vegas and involved the owner of a vape store who stabbed a suspected robbery suspect, quickly went viral on the internet.
Jonathan Nguyen, the 22-year-old proprietor of the Smokestrom Smoke Shop located in the Sahara Avenue Suite in Las Vegas, may be seen conversing with the two individuals who are thought to be robbers at the establishment.
Following the escalation of the conflict, Nguyen was observed stabbing the individual with a long blade. The authorities in Las Vegas responded quickly to reports of the robbery shortly after they were made. The inquiry into the incident is still ongoing at this time.
Details of the Las Vegas Vape Store stabbing
According to TMZ, Jonathan Nguyen first became suspicious when two men wearing ski masks walked into his store at 3:25 in the afternoon. After he had requested them to leave, one of them grabbed a tip jar, but he did not acknowledge it when it was presented to him.
After it was reported that the men crossed the counter in an effort to steal more, Nguyen began his assault by grabbing one of the suspects and stabbing him multiple times, totaling at least seven punctures. He later explained to the authorities that he was forced to act in such manner in the name of self-defense.
It was later discovered, according to the authorities in Las Vegas, that the purported robber who was stabbed in the incident was just 17 years old at the time of the crime.
Violent crime in Las Vegas
According to the Nevada Independent, while many regions of Nevada have seen an overall decline in crime, other regions have seen a rise in murders, assaults, and robberies since 2021. The stabbing that took place in a Las Vegas vape shop is just one incident in a string of crimes that the state has experienced.
Although the Covid-19 lockdown was a contributing factor in a decrease in the state’s overall crime rate in 2020, the number of violent crimes has actually climbed in many regions of the state since that time.
According to Ernesto Lopez, a research specialist with the Council on Criminal Justice, such shifts could take place for a variety of different causes. When asked about the difficulty of finding answers for social phenomena, he stated in an interview with the Nevada Independent that the process is quite complicated.
A spike in crime rates may, on the other hand, indicate an improvement in the general law and order situation. This may be the case if it indicates that residents are more ready to report events to the authorities, which would be a positive sign for law and order.