Cops Say a Woman Intentionally Plowed Through Pedestrians on a Busy Las Vegas Strip

On Sunday a bit before 7 PM local time, police say a woman intentionally drove her car onto a sidewalk full of pedestrians on Las Vegas's famed strip, killing at least one person and injuring dozens more before taking off, as the New York Times reported.

The woman, who is in her 20s, had a three-year-old child inside the 1996 Oldsmobile she was driving, according to CNN. She plowed onto the sidewalk on South Las Vegas Boulevard near the Paris hotel and casino, one of the city's busiest intersections, at an estimated speed of 30 or 40 miles per hour. Police took the woman into custody shortly after the crash near Flamingo Road and Koval Lane, the intersection where Tupac Shakur was shot and killed in 1996. The driver is now being detained, and she was set to be interviewed and tested for alcohol and other controlled substances, according to the Times.

Her name has not yet been released.

Breaking: Las Vegas Blvd shut down, Harmon to Flamingo, — Christine Maddela (@christnemaddela)December 21, 2015

"This was not an act of terrorism. We are treating this as an intentional act," said Brett Zimmerman, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department deputy chief told gathered reporters at a press conference.

The driver went onto the sidewalk at least three or four times, according to Zimmerman. Witnesses say she accelerated one or two times. The Las Vegas Fire Department responded to the scene with a level three MCI—or multi-casualty incident—which included 70 personnel that could provide care for up to 50 patients, they indicated on social media.

"She had both of her hands on the wheel and was looking straight forward," one witness told a local CBS affiliate.

"She rode the sidewalk, she came to a stop at the Paris intersection, people are punching into the window… She accelerated again and just kept mowing people down," another eyewitness, Antonio Nassar, told CNN. "The car rolled right in front of me. By the time I looked over to the right, all you could see was [her] driving away, and people were bouncing off the front of the car."

On Monday morning, the Clark County Coroner's Office confirmed that Jessica Valenzuela, 32, of Buckeye, Arizona, was the deceased victim of the case.

Very sad. Our thoughts are with her family — City of Las Vegas (@CityOfLasVegas)December 21, 2015

Police say the driver's car was registered in the state of Oregon, and believe the woman may have been driving for over a day by the time the crash near the Paris occurred.

In observance of the tragedy just outside its front door, the lights of the Paris hotel were turned off for the night, according to ABC news. Usually a bustling hive of activity, the Las Vegas Strip was shut down after the crash Sunday night, and traffic was diverted. The bright lights of the casinos were joined by the lights of emergency vehicles on the scene. As of early Monday, six people were hospitalized but stable and 26 were dealing with other injuries, according to the Times.

The Strip (and Vegas in general) is one of the most surveilled places on earth. As such, several cameras likely caught footage of the crash, and police are digging through tape to get a clearer picture of how and why it happened.

Follow Brian McManus on Twitter.