![]() ![]() ![]() But it's the mental scars that seem hardest to heal. She's had multiple surgeries for a leg injury suffered that night. She desperately wants to move on from that day. Li'Shey Johnson was working as a hospitality director at a VIP tent during the festival. Healing has been different for every survivor. "Out of darkness, light," Madsen says of his son's idea to donate to the women's charity. ![]() Madsen and his son donated part of their settlement to a local women's shelter their church supports. In 2019 MGM Resorts - owner of Mandalay Bay and the festival grounds – reached an $800 million dollar settlement with thousands of victims and survivors.Īs part of the settlement, MGM Resorts acknowledged no liability. "I mean, it's something that's forever, unfortunately, going to be part of me." I think it can dissipate, but it's never going to go away," Madsen says. "So you can kind of take it as, 'hey, there's some great lifelong relationships we met from this.'"īut he adds, it's also impossible not to remember it or think of it or hear the bullets or hear the sounds of people being shot. "We're going to go see them and hug them and take joyous pictures with them and these are all great things," he says. He credits ongoing therapy, his church, his son - and fellow survivors he has befriended from that night for helping him learn to live with the scars. Madsen attended the concert with his then-9-year-old son. He covered his son on the ground before both made a harrowing escape.īridget Bennett for NPR Chis Madsen and his son Nick Madsen on Nov. "I really believe most people that visit Vegas for tourism, I don't even think realize what happened there," says Las Vegas resident Chris Madsen, who was enjoying the concert near the stage with his then 9-year-old son Nick when the shooting began. ![]() Survivors still have unanswered questions: Why wasn't security better at the Mandalay Bay hotel and resort? Why weren't exits better marked at the concert? And some are frustrated investigators found "no single or clear motivating factor" driving the gunman's rampage and subsequent suicide. Some who faced the carnage up close that October evening still struggle with lingering psychological and physical fallout. Hundreds more were wounded and thousands traumatized. Two others later died from their injuries. 1, 2017.įrustration remains for questions that aren't resolvedįifty-eight people were killed that night. It's horribly upsetting."īridget Bennett for NPR Heather Gooze holds a candle in a flower crown she was wearing the night of the shooting during a gathering one year after the Route 91 shooting on Oct. "I think they (business community) want to make sure it's gone, erased from memory, so to speak, for the city," says local resident and survivor Chris Madsen.Īs survivor Gooze notes, at the site, "Now, there's a football parking lot where people were murdered. But it's difficult when there are signs all around that the tourist-dependent city has moved on. They're paying tribute to strangers and those they loved. But it's downtown miles away from the site."įive years after that horrific night, survivors and the families of those who were killed are gathering this weekend to remember. "There's a healing garden, which is amazing. Her bar area became one of several bloody, makeshift triage centers for the wounded and dying. She's a professional bartender who was working the festival that night. "It's crazy that five years later there's literally nothing but a sign there saying there's going to be something," says survivor and Las Vegas resident Heather Gooze. It also says "please don't leave mementos in any ems left here will be discarded." But some victims' family members have left rocks with the names of the dead clearly written at the bottom of the sign. Today a sign at what is now an overflow parking lot for nearby Allegiant stadium promises a permanent memorial for the site - some day. That's where the gunman stayed, renting a suite on the 32nd floor, where he opened fire on the crowds attending Route 91 Harvest, an open-air country music concert below. The sprawling outdoor area is just across from the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino. LAS VEGAS - Unless you know where it happened, it's tough to find the spot of America's most deadly mass shooting in the modern era. ![]()
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