Indy woman describes cousin’s story of survival in Las Vegas shooting
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — We are beginning to learn more about what people did to survive the shooting and how strangers helped one another during time of chaos.
An Indianapolis woman said her cousin was right by the stage when the shooting happened in Las Vegas during a country music festival.
Andrea Hirsch told 24-Hour News 8 her cousin Jamie was in Vegas for a bachelorette party. Jamie and her group of friends bought tickets to the country music festival in Vegas months ago and couldn’t believe a night of celebration would turn into a night of terror.
Cellphone video provided by CNN shows the terrifying moments as hundreds of people dropped to the ground for cover, including Andrea Hirsch’s cousin Jamie.
“People were screaming get down get down and so her and her four friends hit the ground and they were all holding hands all terrified and they didn’t know what to do,” Hirsch said.
Hirsch said her cousin Jamie and four other friends were seven rows away from the stage when the shooting happened.
“She thought somebody was shooting like firecrackers because it just sounded like a bunch of loud noise and it was just pop, pop, pop, pop,” she said.
But it was the sound of terror as a man began shooting into the crowd of thousands of people from a hotel room on the 32nd floor.
“Somebody said get up, run, run, run, get out of here and so they just ran as fast as they could and they somehow got to a parking lot and they found this red van and they were banging on the door,” she said.
Hirsch said her cousin pleaded for the driver’s help.
“My cousin Jamie was like, ‘I’m a mother. Let me in. I have to live. I have to live. I have to get back to my son,’” she said.
Once they got inside the van, Hirsch said her cousin described seeing a familiar face at the window.
“They’re like, Oh, my God,’ we know her, we met her, and she had a gunshot wound to the head, so they let her in the van and they didn’t realize how bad her injury was until she got into the car,” she said.
Hirsch said her cousin Jamie and her friends let the woman in and did everything to stop the bleeding.
“Why does this keep happening? Why do people get a hold of these deadly weapons and do this to people?” she said.
Hirsch said her cousin and everyone in the van drove around and found a medic to help save the woman.
Jamie and her friends drove back to California on Monday and believe had it not been for the man in the red van they would not here.
