Red Rock Casino Stabber Sentenced to Prison For Up to 20 Years

Posted on: February 2, 2025, 11:07h. 

Last updated on: February 2, 2025, 11:07h.

A man who stabbed two employees and struggled with a security guard at the Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa was sentenced last week by a Las Vegas judge.

Shayne Sussman
Shayne Sussman,, pictured above during a court appearance. He was sentenced for violent attacks at a casino. (Image: KSNV)

Shayne Sussman, 25, was ordered to spend between eight and 20 years behind bars for the August 3 Las Vegas attack, according to Las Vegas TV station KTNV.

He will receive 131 days off the sentence for time already spent in jail. Also, he must pay $2,000 and $2,800 to two of the victims in restitution, Clark County District Court Judge Susan Johnson ruled on Thursday.

The incident began when an intoxicated Sussman assaulted a maintenance worker at the gaming property. Sussman also stabbed a second worker who tried to help the other employee.

Sussman stabbed the first worker in the back, lungs, collarbone, and neck, according to prosecutors. The second worker stabbed by Sussman was a supervisor.

Sussman then fled from the scene and was noticed by a Red Rock Casino security guard as he sat outside of a casino restaurant.

Man Looked Suspicious

“I saw him and he just didn’t look right,” security guard Chance Sanders testified before a grand jury hearing the case, according to KTNV.

“When he sat himself down, he did not sit himself down like a normal human being would, somebody in the right state of mind. He kind of plopped himself down and then his head was cocked awkwardly on the decor behind him, and it just looked extremely uncomfortable.”

Sanders went up to Sussman to see if he was okay, and then saw he had a pocket knife.

Sussman initially lunged at Sanders and then Sussman ran away. Sanders chased Sussman.

The second I touched him, his whole body tensed up and he spun around, and with a 360-back spin, and that knife came right at my head,” Sanders further told the grand jury.

“The light is shining off of it and everything — and by the grace of God, I don’t know how, but somehow I ducked,” he recalled.

A second security guard then shot Sussman in the stomach. He was rushed to University Medical Center (UMC) for treatment.

While there, doctors measured his blood alcohol content. It was at .25%. Sussman had been drinking during a concert held at the casino complex. That’s three times the legal limit for intoxicated driving in Nevada. In addition, he had tetrahydrocannabinol present in his body. It’s a substance found in marijuana.

Two injured casino employees were transported to UMC for treatment. Each of the wounded men survived.

Guard Haunted By Experience

Later, Sanders was haunted by the violent experience.

Once I was finally able to sleep for about a week following the incident, I would wake up crying,” Sanders said in court, Las Vegas TV station KLAS reported.

“I wasn’t sure why, but it was overwhelming — and I found myself looking up towards heaven and saying ‘thank you.’”

Guests and others at the casino hid underneath tables as the violence unfolded during the confrontation, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

In October, Sussman agreed to plead guilty to three attempted murder counts before Judge Johnson.

He pleaded under the Alford Doctrine, which means he acknowledged that the district attorney’s office had sufficient evidence for a conviction, though he maintained his innocence.

Sussman initially was charged with three charges of attempted murder with the use of a deadly weapon or tear gas, as well as four counts of battery with the use of a deadly weapon, and a single count of battery with the use of a deadly weapon, resulting in substantial bodily harm, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD).