Las Vegas, Shaken By Horrific Shooting, Gathers For Vigil
LAS VEGAS (CBS13) — Hundreds of people gathered for a vigil Monday night outside Las Vegas's city hall to honor the lives lost.
Community members, church leaders, tourists all coming together in song and prayer, lighting candles in a show of unity.
"These are locals, tourists, our moms, our children, friends of ours," said John Dimayo.
Many are left shaken and traumatized by Sunday night's mass shooting, yet those with long time roots in Vegas are trying to stay strong.
"There are people that live here, and we're a tight community, and I think a lot of people saw that last night," said retired Las Vegas Firefighter Mark Stevens.
Stevens and his wife had tickets to last night's concert, but at the last minute they decided not to go.
"This might have been a different day for us, I mean if we would have went, to think of what could happened. Our hearts go out to those that lost someone last night," he said.
What was supposed to be a 3-day celebration of country music in the heart of Las Vegas turned into a night of terror.
Buzz Brainard was among the sea of chaos.
"It was like a movie, you could see the bullets hitting the dust and coming up, that's when we took cover. People were running over people, we just didn't know when the gunfire was going to stop," said Brainard.
As the lone shooter opened fire right above concert goers.
"I was triaging everybody, and when you have such large numbers of people coming in for medical help, we needed to be sure nothing was missed," said Las Vegas Nurse, John Dimaya.
Now messages of hope popping up on billboards across the strip.
And It's the bravery and acts of heroism from one stranger to another that has given this Las Vegas community a sense of pride.
"It was remarkable seeing people come together, and help each other even when they're fearing their own safety,
Makes me proud," said Stevens.
Meanwhile the impacts of the tragedy could be felt throughout the city. Many big shows such as Cirque Du Soleil and Blue Man Group we're cancelled.
