CREDIT: SUE MCKITTRICK
Sue McKittrick (third from the right) spoke to the Interrobang about her experience during the city-wide lockdown in Las Vegas on Oct. 1.

On the night of Oct. 1, a gunman began firing bullets from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino at a group of concertgoers. The incident occurred at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas, Nevada. As a result of the shooting, 58 individuals lost their lives and more than 500 concertgoers were injured.

Some members of the London and Fanshawe community witnessed the chaos and panic that ensued throughout the city that tragic night, while others were forced to act fast, as they suddenly found themselves caught up in the shooting. Sue McKittrick, the communications, recruitment and enrolment co-ordinator for Fanshawe's International Centre, sat down and spoke to the Interrobang regarding her account of what happened to her and her friends in Las Vegas during the night of the attack.

Sue McKittrick explained that her and 12 of her best friends traveled to Las Vegas for a few days to celebrate multiple birthdays within her friend group. On the night of Sunday Oct. 1, the group chose to split up in order to attend various events happening throughout the vibrant city. Some members of the group chose to hang out around Fremont Street to gamble, while others chose to venture off into the city to attend various events.

McKittrick said that while she was exploring Fremont Street with some of her friends, the group started to receive some eerie text messages from her friends who attended a Criss Angel magic show. The text messages stated that the three group members were in the midst of a mass shooting and could not believe the amount of shots being fired.

According to McKittrick, her friends were waiting for a bus next to the Mandalay Bay when all of a sudden, the group heard a barrage of bullets being fired. What made things even more terrifying was the fact that nobody knew where the shots were coming from.

The bus promptly arrived at the bus stop once the shooting commenced and the driver told McKittrick's friends to quickly get on the bus and stay down close to the floor. Subsequently, a man with a military background got on the bus and reassured everyone to stay calm, to keep their heads down and turn off the lights.

Once McKittrick received a text saying that the bus was finally moving towards its destination, her and her friends attempted to make their way over to the bus stop near their hotel to meet up with their shaken and distraught comrades. However, the police had blocked off the roads and informed the group that there was an active shooter in the city. As a result of the city-wide lockdown,

McKittrick and her friends were told by the police to return to their hotel rooms. “It didn't take very long to have the police on our end of town, which was not near the scene. I think it was because nobody knew exactly what was happening, how much was going to happen and what locations were involved,” McKittrick said.

McKittrick and her friends promptly returned to their hotel for the night and were eventually reunited with the rest of their group who were caught up in the mass shooting.

“My friends were saying that the bus driver is a hero. She got them out of the scene.” McKittrick said.

The group was able to make their morning flight back to Canada without difficulties. McKittrick said it will take some time for her friends who were caught up in the shooting to process and recover from the traumatic experience.