By CHAT News Today

Medicine Hat residents recall moments following Las Vegas shooting

Oct 2, 2017 | 4:11 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Two Medicine Hat residents were among those in Las Vegas at the time of Sunday night’s mass shooting, with one woman saying she feels lucky she missed the festival.

Christina Forbes arrived in Las Vegas on Friday, and was trying to get same day tickets for the Sunday performance, which Jason Aldean was headlining. The festival, however, was sold out.

Sunday night, Forbes was at the Hard Rock Hotel with a friend for a different concert. At the gift shop, Forbes was told she was unable to leave the hotel because there was a shooting.

“At that time, they didn’t know if there was more than one shooter, or if they had been caught,” she said. “Everything was on complete lock down. It took a moment to process it. I couldn’t believe it.”

HERE'S WHAT TO KNOW

Summer pool hours extended and discounts applied as Big Marble Go Centre upgrades start

Apr 18, 2024

Medicine Hat company drawing in clients with witty signage

Apr 16, 2024

Medicine Hat College holding event for missing and murdered Indigenous women awareness day

Apr 16, 2024

As of Monday afternoon, 58 people, including two Canadians, are dead, and more than 500 people are injured after gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire from a window at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino Sunday night.

The Route 91 Harvest Festival, a country music festival, was in its final hours when the shooting occurred. Paddock died from an apparent suicide before he was captured. It is the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

Fortunately, Forbes and her friend were able to get a ride to the Rio Hotel, where she was staying. On her way to the hotel, she observed armoured vehicles and SWAT teams heading to the scene. When she arrived at the Rio, the security level was high

“We had to show room keys, there was only one door open, we had to go through three or four security guards, and when we got into our hotel, they were saying over the intercom that they just wanted everybody to go to their rooms,” she said. “It was absolutely unbelievable.”

Forbes says she still can’t believe she could’ve been at the festival when the shooting occurred. She had other friends who were in attendance at the time of the shooting, who are all safe and accounted for.

“I’ve been to outdoor country festivals, it is what we do, it’s what we love,” she said. “I’ve been to Vegas many times. To think that we could have been there, it’s hard to think about.

“I’m so sorry for everybody who was there and who had to go through that.”

Renee Anhelher was also in Las Vegas, attending a Vegas Golden Knights preseason game. When she left the T-Mobile Arena, she saw people frantically running from the festival.

She said there was a sombre mood in the city immediately following the shooting.

“Vegas just kind of shut down,” she said. “The Strip was completely shut down, the airport shut down, no one could get in or out of the hotels that they are in. It was complete chaos.”

On Monday, Anhelher said she was amazed with how Las Vegas had come together to help following the shooting.

 “We are outside one of the big trauma units that took a lot of the victims in last night,” she said. “They have blood donor clinics set up everywhere, we are currently at one right now, and the amount of people that have come out is actually amazing.”

A third Medicine Hat resident, Vicki Burkitt-Boone, emailed CHAT News, saying she witnessed the shooting as well.

Burkitt-Boone writes “We were at the center of the field in front of the stage, but more to the left. Heard ‘pop pop pop’ and looked to the right, and heard ‘pop pop pop’ and a woman yelling ‘Gun!’

“We were with my brother in law and sister in law and 4 other friends. We ran for our lives.”

Burkitt-Boone, who was also with her husband, says bullets were flying four feet above her head as they ran away, noting she saw “blood everywhere.”

She says they ended up taking shelter at the Tropicana Hotel, and were flying back home on Monday.