It was a great weekend until…
58 people died and over 800 were injured.
It was the last day of the concert. The last act of the night. We sat listening to Jason Aldean, and shortly into his set, we heard a pop. Seconds later the bullets started and seemed like they were never going to stop. A sniper bullet hit our daughter and fractured her pelvis. A CT Scan was inconclusive, and she needed exploratory surgery. She was brought into the operating room around 6 a.m. Calls from friends and family on the East Coast started coming in. People had heard about the shooting on the news and were calling to make sure we were OK. But we weren’t. Our daughter was shot. Shot with a sniper bullet in the back at a country music concert in celebration of her recent college graduation. Stuff like this doesn’t happen. It wasn’t possible. WHY? HOW?
Miraculously the bullet did not explode on impact. It fractured her pelvis but didn’t shatter it, as is often the case with such gunshot wounds. It also did not damage any of her internal organs. For that we were fortunate. She spent five days in the hospital and three more days in Las Vegas before she was cleared to travel. She had months of PT. Both she and I went to counseling.
Over time she has physically healed, but for all of us there are daily triggers that bring back memories. It’s difficult to listen to certain county music. It’s hard to attend outdoor music events. Fireworks and loud noises make us jump. Everyone reacts differently. The three of us were together virtually every second of the ordeal, from beginning to end, but each of us has a different recollection. I remember the constant gun fire. My husband remembers the sound of bullets ricocheting. Our daughter remembers the sound of bullets whizzing by. But all three of us remember the number of people we saw…scared, injured, crying, lost, confused, dying, dead. Why???????????? Our lives and so many others are forever changed.