The image that emerged Monday of the suspect in the Las Vegas Strip car attack was of a woman who once won a role-model award from a Portland alternative school, but had changed her name and by Sunday night was homeless and stressed from being chased away from the gambling mecca’s casinos.
According to reports in the Oregonian newspaper, 24-year-old Lakeisha Holloway had changed her name to Paris Paradise Morton in October and had gone to Las Vegas from her longtime Oregon residence seeking work.
In 2012, the Skanner newspaper, which covers Oregon’s black community, covered an awards banquet by the Portland Opportunities Industrial Center, an alternative school at which Ms. Holloway was cited as one of its star pupils.
Ms. Holloway said at the banquet that she had been homeless and burdened by an alcohol-dependent mother during her high-school years.
According to the Skanner report, Ms. Holloway received a standing ovation upon receiving her CARE Role Model awards and “with the help of POIC, Holloway is a graduate pursuing a career in the forest service.”
“I would like to thank the Forest Service for sending me an application and taking a chance on me,” Ms. Holloway said then. “And I’d like to thank POIC for the love and support and for being more than a program, for being a blessing.”
The Oregonian, citing state court records, reported Monday that in December 2011, she had been convicted of driving without a license or insurance.
According to Las Vegas police and prosecutors, Ms. Holloway intentionally drove her 1996 Oldsmobile onto the Las Vegas Strip on Sunday night near the Miss Universe pageant, causing dozens of injuries and one death. She is in jail on suicide watch and will be charged with murder, authorities in Nevada said Monday.
The arrest report says Ms. Holloway told police she had been living in her car with her 3-year-old daughter but couldn’t get rest because casino security officials kept her from sleeping in their parking lots.
Cousin LaShay Hardaway told the Oregonian that her relative was a “beautiful person” and a hard worker who slept little to provide for her daughter and thus may have just fallen asleep at the wheel. Ms. Holloway does not drink or do drugs, she said.
“She’s just always thinking about her daughter or the next thing she needs to take care of,” Ms. Hardaway said.
Ms. Hardway said her cousin was recently a student at Portland Community College and had a job there, but was in Las Vegas to scout other prospects and maybe move there. She last saw her around Thanksgiving and told The Oregonian that her cousin didn’t seem stressed.
She also denied law enforcement’s claim that her cousin was homeless, saying Ms. Holloway had rented a room in Las Vegas.
“She’s a working mother and makes good money,” Ms. Hardaway said.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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