For those of you still reeling from the Las Vegas shooting (which, aren’t we all?), it’s important to remember that there is still good left in this world. Though thousands ran in terror that night, there were a few brave individuals who put their lives on the life to protect others. It is people like those we’re about to highlight in this article that restores our faith in humanity and that reminds us that one bad apple doesn’t affect the entire bunch.
The Las Vegas shooting is considered the worst in modern U.S. history, killing 59 and injuring at least 500. It took place at what was supposed to be a fun event–the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a country concert that rivals the famous Stagecoach Festival. As beloved country music star, Jason Aldean, belted out the lyrics to “She Says Baby!” 64-year-old Stephen Paddock was already putting into action his plan to take out concert goers. From his perch at hotel room in the nearby Mandalay Bay Resort, he opened fire on the crowd below and did significant damage before police were able to stop him. When America work up Monday morning, we were greeted with yet another tragedy on the news, and vistims’ families were greeted with that one phone call no loved-one wants to receive.
To honor all those who either lost their lives, were injured or lost a loved one, we’ve put together a few of the most heroic stories from that night.
1. This former Marine and his friend.
As bullets rained down on the Route 91 concert goers, 29-year-old and former Marine Taylor Winston and his friend, Jenn Lewis, were able to escape. However, instead of taking off to safety, they did the unthinkable: they went back to the war zone. They found a work truck with the keys still in it and drove through the terrified crowd looking for critically wounded and piling them in. By the end of the night, they had transported more than 2 dozen people to the hospital.
2. This new mother.
Summer Clayburn, a new mother, leaped on her stricken boyfriend to shield him from bullets as he was unable to move himself.
3. This mother who saved her baby.
Carly Krygier was enjoying the concert from the back of the venue with her daughter when the shooting started. Like most mothers would, she put her baby first–without a second’s hesitation, she put her daughter on the ground and got on top of her. The pair were able to eventually escape the hotel and run to the nearby Tropicana.
4. This firefighter who would not stop helping people even after being shot himself.
Firefighter Steve Keys was performing CPR on a wounded woman when he himself got shot. However, despite his own injuries, he continued to go around the concert grounds, continuing to help who he could. “I’m ok. But a lot of people aren’t. I am lucky,” he later wrote.
5. This heroic husband.
Sonny Melton and his wife, Heather, both from Tennessee, were celebrating their first wedding anniversary in the City That Never Sleeps. When shots broke out, Sonny grabbed Heather and began to run, shielding her from the bullets that sprayed down. Sadly, as he was trying to get his wife to safety, he was shot in the back. He didn’t make it. “He saved my life… I felt him get shot in the back,” Heather told a Tennessee radio station. She went on to write in a Facebook post that she had lost her “true love and knight in shining armor. Sonny was the most kind-hearted, loving man I have ever met. He saved my life and lost his.”
6. This dad who jumped in front of his wife to take a bullet for her.
In a tragic Twitter post, the likes of which became all to familiar in the days following the Route 91 concert, Jake Beaton of Bakersfield, CA, wrote: “If everyone could please pray for my dad and everyone else at the Route 91. He jumped in front of my mom and got shot.” Jake’s father, Jack, was shot and killed while trying to shield his wife, Laurie, from the chaos that surrounded them. “He put Laurie on the ground and covered her with his body and he got shot I don’t know how many times,” Laurie’s father, Jerry Cook, told BakersfieldNow. “Laurie was saying he was bleeding through the mouth, bleeding profusely, she knew he was dying. He told her he loved her. Laurie could tell he was slipping. She told him she loved him and she would see him in heaven.”
7. This man that took a bullet that might never come out.
Johnathan Smith, 30, was at the Route 91 Harvest Festival celebrating his brother’s 43rd birthday when he heard what sounded like fireworks. However, when Aldean finished his song and ran off stage, Smith, like every other concert goer at that point, realized that those sounds were not coming from fireworks–they were coming from a machine gun. After the lights went out and concert goers were trying to run their way to safety, Smith ended up getting separated from his family. However, he tried to corral groups of terrified strangers nonetheless, shouting, “Active shooter, active shooter, let’s go! We have to run,” over and over. As he stood up to yell at a group of girls to hit the ground, a bullet struck him in the neck. Though he survived, doctors fear that trying to dislodge the bullet may result in further injury. Smith told reporters, “I would want someone to do the same for me. No one deserves to lose a life coming to a country festival.”
8. The father who threw his life down for his children.
Mike McGarry, a financial advisor from Pennsylvania and just 53 years old, was with his children at the country music concert when shots rang out. To protect his children, 20, he threw himself on top of them and stayed there, despite the fact that a stampede of people ran right over him. “They’re 20. I’m 53,” he was quoted as saying. “I lived a good life.” Thankfully, he and his children escaped unharmed.
9. This off-duty fire captain and brother in law.
Los Angeles fire captain Mark McCurdy was at the Route 91 festival with his wife Kelly and her sister Jessi Preston. While Kelly made it out unharmed, Jessi was shot. Mark picked her up and carried her all the way back to the Luxor, where they were staying. He then called an ambulance to pick her up and went back into the danger zone to see if anyone else needed assistance.
10. This off-duty firefighter who was seriously wounded after shielding his wife from gunfire.
Kurt Fowler, an off-duty firefighter from Lake Havasu City, Arizona, was shot in the right leg and seriously wounded trying to shield his wife from gunfire. Since the shooting, he has had surgery and is expected to recover. “Kurt is a very devoted family man. Good father, good husband,” Erickson and Desert Hills fire captain Steve Bunn told CBS News. “He’s one of our brothers, and we’re doing the best we can to support him and his family.”
11. This man who saved a stranger.
This young man, whom has yet to be identified, took a bullet for a stranger at the Route 91 concert. The stranger’s brother posted this picture on Reddit with the caption, “This man took a bullet while protecting my sister from gunfire in Vegas.”
12. This retired teacher who saved his friend.
48-year-old retired teacher, Mike Cronk, did not mistake the gunfire for fireworks and was immediately aware of what was going on. His suspicions were confirmed, however, when he heard bullets hitting a nearby fence, and then when he saw his best friend, 52-year-old Rob MacIntosh, get shot 3 times. He wasn’t about to leave Mike where he lay. “I saw him there and I wasn’t going to leave him,” Cronk told ABC News. With the help of some EMTs and ex-military members, he moved Rob under the concert stage and was able to stabilize him by compressing his wounds with his own shirt. He then went on to help load other injured people into an ambulance, one of whom died in his arms. “It could have been me that got shot. So many people… very thankful right now.”
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13. The man who helped put an end to the horror.
Chris Bethel, an Iraq war veteran, was in Las Vegas for an IT conference. He was staying in the Mandalay Bay Resort, just two rooms below the shooter. When he heard gun shots coming from above he immediately knew that something was amiss. He called the police, not knowing that at that moment, the shots he was hearing were coming from the man who was committing the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. “I crouched by my front door, in hopes that I might get the opportunity to see the shooter if he ran by and I could identify him,” he told CBS News. Bethel’s call would later help the police trace the shooter’s location, where they found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
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