As much of the country did I woke up Monday morning to the shocking news that more than 50 people had been killed at a county music festival in Las Vegas. Having covered every major mass shooting over the past 16 years I knew what this meant. A few hours later I was on a flight to Vegas. Sitting in front of me was a young man from Arkansas on his way to a bachelor party. When he described his plans he looked like a kid in a candy shop, his eyes wide open and full of excitement and anticipation. He was a small town boy on his first trip to the big city. Listening to him I could not help but think about what this city represents. It is a place where Americans from all walks of life come to celebrate, let loose and enjoy life. And yet someone had decided it should now also be a place to take so many lives away. As we touched down you could see the broken windows where the shooter had taken aim at so many innocent people.
From the moment we landed the mood was palpable. A woman at the rental car counter cried as she recounted to her husband what she had seen and heard the night before as she ran for her life. Around town everyone had been touched in some way by this shooting. A man noticed the dust on my boots and asked if I had been there because he was still in shock looking at his bloody knuckles from throwing people over the fence to escape the rapid gunfire.
The outpouring of support around town was amazing. At the local sandwich shop they were frantically filling orders to feed the exhausted first responders. Starbucks ran out of large containers because so many people were buying coffee to donate. Blood banks were so overwhelmed with donations they had to turn people away. We met amazing people with tragic stories. Families who had barely escaped with their lives and some who didn’t. We talked to the Mayor, the Fire Chief and local mebers of Congress. They all wondered – how could this happen here? You may think of this as Sin City with the lights and gambling but to us this is a close knit community of everyday people working hard to raise their families. To us this is home.
We spent a lot of time with the Melanson family. Paige and Stephanie bought their mom tickets to the Route 91 music festival for Mother’s Day. They were having the time of their lives when gunshots rang out and a bullet struck their mom. A rerired firefighter came to her rescue and told the girls to run for their lives. He promised to stay with their mother Rosemarie and he kept that promise even though it meant putting his own life at risk. Rosemarie has now been through 2 surgersies but is expected to make a full recovery thanks to the bravery and kindness of a complete stranger. The family met the President and everyone put politics aside to embrace one another as human beings – people brought together under the worst circumstances. We watched as their family from across the country and around the world arrived to fill their living room with love and laughter, as the moms from their local dance community filled their home with bags of groceries and platters of food and the local salon offered to do their hair so they could feel human again. They welcomed us into their home at the most difficult moment in their lives and their warmth will stay with me forever.
On my last night in Vegas I walked the strip and was surprised at how life went on. People were enjoying the cool fall air, celebrating and letting loose. Vegas was still Sin City. But for the thousands of people touched by this tragedy it will never be the same. They will remember those who helped in their time of need but they will never drive by the Mandalay Bay without looking up at the windows where a madman tried to kill them. I am thankful to have met so many wonderful people but I am also lucky to go home to my family. I assure you tonight I will hug my kids a little tighter and remember how precious life and love is. We are all reminded by the people of Las Vegas to enjoy every moment. #VegasStrong.