An amazing account of how Luke Combs crew helped fans onto the bus during the chaos in Vegas Sunday night.
Las Vegas Survivor: "I Don't Know If I'll Ever Feel Safe Again"
ANDREA GONZÁLEZ-RAMÍREZ for Refinery 29
"We had just walked backstage when I heard what I assumed was firecrackers going off. That’s really stupid. Why is someone lighting up fireworks in a crowd like this? I thought to myself. It even smelled like fireworks. But then I realized that the smell was actually gunpowder. Whispers spread through the crowd: Those are gunshots.
Jason Aldean stopped performing mid-song and ran off stage. Bullets ricocheted off of the metal equipment. We fled, seeking cover behind a nearby tour bus. I lost track of Michalynn. A man running towards me fell to the ground just five feet away. I thought he had tripped, but then I saw the blood: he had been shot in the leg. Someone called for a belt to use as a tourniquet. I took mine off and I threw it in their direction. We kept running. I ducked underneath another bus, waiting for the gunfire to stop. But it kept coming. It went on for about 20 minutes in all. It didn’t even sound real — it sounded like a videotape.
Eventually, someone yelled Run to the buses! I was already next to a bus, so I wasn’t really sure what they were talking about. But I followed the crowd and sprinted ahead. A girl running alongside me was shot in the neck. She fell to the ground. I don't know what happened to her.
I ended up crouched down next to an amazing guy who grabbed my hand and tried to calm me down. Look at me, look at me. It’s going to be okay, he said. My phone had died, but his still had power. I didn’t have Michalynn’s number memorized, but I know my mom’s by heart. I called her and told her that there was an active shooter and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. I just wanted to tell her that I loved her. I couldn’t say much more. I told her that I would call as soon as I got to safety and asked her to try to get in touch with Michalynn if she could.
It turned out the guy with the phone was the bass guitarist for Luke Combs, one of the performers at the festival. His name was Delaney. When the coast was clear, Delaney brought me to their bus and introduced me to a production manager named Todd and the bus driver, Chase. There were probably 30 of us inside in all, just waiting for word it was safe to leave. They asked everyone if we were hungry and gave us coffee, water, clothes, whatever we needed while we waited for the all clear. If I can take something out of this that is good it was seeing the love and outpouring of help that people were willing to give to complete strangers."
Read the entire article here.