These Ordinary People Became Extraordinary Heroes During The Las Vegas Shooting

The world is still reeling after a maniac opened fire on a country music festival in Las Vegas, killing at least 59 people and injuring more than 500.

Despite the utter horror that erupted over the innocent crowd, several brave people risked their own lives to help others.

These ordinary people became true heroes that night.

#1. Jonathan Smith, 30. 

Smith Saved 30 People Before He Was Shot In The Neck. He Might Live With The Bullet Inside Him For Rest Of His Life.

Jonathan was just another country music fan at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. He was there to celebrate his brother’s 43rd birthday.

He initially thought he was hearing fireworks as Jason Aldean finished his song. But he was left confused when the country singer ran off the stage. 

Suddenly the music stopped, the lights went out, and a stampede of fleeing concertgoers ran towards him. 

Jonathan, a copy machine repairman from Orange County, ended up being separated from his nine family members. 

Despite this, he did his best to gather groups of terrified people and usher them to safe hiding places.

“Active shooter, active shooter, let’s go! We have to run,” he repeatedly shouted.

Then Jonathan noticed a group of girls, he got up from the ground and urged them to get down. 

That’s when a bullet struck him in the neck.

An off-duty San Diego police officer helped to stop his bleeding until first responders arrived.

Thankfully Jonathan survived, as did his entire family. But he may have to live with a bullet in the side of his neck for the rest of his life. Doctors fear further injury if they try to remove it.

Jonathan however is modest about his heroic efforts.

“I would want someone to do the same for me. No one deserves to lose a life coming to a country festival,” Smith told Washington Post.

#2. Brave Dad Jumps In Front Of Wife To Save Her From Bullets And Gets Dies

Jack Beaton, was tragically shot and killed while shielding his wife, Laurie, from the hail of bullets from the deranged shooter.

“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 media outlets. 

“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.”

#3. Man Takes A Bullet While Protecting His Sister From The Gunfire

This photo was posted to Reddit by social media user tynation.

It has since received more than 159 thousand upvotes.

But understandably, the man in the photo’s sister is still unable to share her story after the traumatic things she witnessed. 

#4. Sonny Melton Was Killed After He Covered His Wife Heather During The Las Vegas Shooting

Sonny Melton was celebrating his first wedding anniversary with his wife at the country concert.

The couple from Big Sandy, Tennessee, began running when they heard the gunshots.

Sonny grabbed Heather shield her from harm, but was fatally shot in the process.

“He saved my life… I felt him get shot in the back,” Heather told a Tennessee radio station.

She went on to write that she had lost her “true love and knight in shining armor” in a mournful Facebook post. “Sonny was the most kind-hearted, loving man I have ever met. He saved my life and lost his.”

#5. Marine Taylor Winston And His Friend Jenn Lewis, Found A Truck With Keys In It And Transported Two Dozen Victims To Hospital

Taylor Winston was literally at the right hand side of the stage when the terrible shooting began.

Luckily the 29-year-old was able to flee the scene unharmed along with his friend, Jenn Lewis.

But instead of running to safety they spotted a work truck with the keys in the ignition and no apparent owner.

Without a second thought, they began seeking out critically wounded people and loading them in. “People needed to get out of there, and we tried the best we could to get as many as we could,”

Winston told The Daily Beast that they were able to transport around two dozen people to the hospital.

When police realized what they were doing they organized a squad cars to escort them through traffic.

#6. New Mother Takes A Bullet After For Her Wounded Boyfriend

#7. Firefighter Steve Keys Shot While Performing CPR On A Woman At The Concert

Steve Keys was one of the first responders at the scene of the shooting.

He was performing CPR on a wounded woman when a bullet grazed his chest and stomach.

Even though he was bleeding profusely, Keys stayed on-site and continued helping whoever he could.

He was later picked up by a friend and driven to be treated. “Prayers needed. Lot of people hit. A lot killed,” firefighter Steve Keys wrote in an emotional Facebook post.

“I’m ok. But a lot of people aren’t. I am lucky,” he further wrote.

#8. Carly Krygier Shielded Her Daughter On The Ground 

Carly Krygier had travelled all the way from San Diego with her young daughter to the music festival.

They were seated towards the back of the music festival when the shooting started.

“I put the baby on the ground and got on top of her,” Carly told CNN, apparently without a second of hesitation.

Later, they fled behind a set of bleachers and in a break in a gunfire ran to the nearby Tropicana Hotel with a crowd.

Krygier went on to note that her daughter was “incredibly brave,” and did not “cry or scream or ask what was going on.”

Both mother and daughter escaped with no injuries.

#9. Retired Teacher Mike Cronk Used His Shirt To Stop Bleeding Of His Friend Who Had Been Shot Three Times

48-year-old retired teacher Mike Cronk 52-year-old best friend, Rob MacIntosh, was shot three times during the attack.

“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 successfully moved Rob under the concert stage. He stabilized him by compressing his wounds with his own shirt.

Cronk then went on to help load other injured people into an ambulance.

But sadly one of them tragically died in his arms. “It could have been me that got shot. So many people… very thankful right now.”

#10. Iraq War Veteran Chris Bethel Helped Direct Cops To Shooter’s Room

Chris Bethel was in Vegas for an IT conference.

He was staying at the Mandalay Bay Resort when he heard gunshots just 2 floors up from his hotel room.

The Iraq war veteran immediately called police. He couldn’t have predicted the man above him was  committing the deadliest mass shooting in modern US 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. Authorities found him dead in his room from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

#11. Mike McGarry Threw Himself On Top Of His Children As Shots Rang Out. 

Philadelphia financial adviser Mike McGarry threw himself on top of his children to protect them after hearing the gunshots.

“They’re 20. I’m 53,” he was quoted by Reuters as saying. “I lived a good life.”

McGarry reportedly ended up with footprints on the back of his shirt from where people had stepped on him.

Thankfully, he and his children escaped unharmed.

#12. Lindsay Padgett Turned Her Truck Into A Makeshift Ambulance

Like many Lindsay Padgett thought the loud popping sounds that interrupted Jason Aldean’s performance were just part of the show.

Then she heard the terrifying screams until people yelling to ‘get on the ground.’

“I thought for sure we were all going to die,” she told ABC News.

When the gunshots briefly subsided, Padgett and her fiancé, Mike Jay, fled the scene unharmed and brought their truck around.

“We realized there were people everywhere that needed help and on stretchers… People saw that we had a truck, so we said, ‘Fine, yeah,’ and started to pack everyone in.”

They managed to get 10 victims to the emergency room. “We were ready to go back and get more people, but my cousin called me because they were scared… So we went there to get my cousin and my family.”

#13. A Police Officer Put A Woman Inside His Car With A Gunshot Wound To The Head And Rushed Her To Hospital

Officer Richard Cole was one of the first police officers on the scene on Sunday’s brutal massacre.

His cousin shared the above photos of his squad car and uniform after helping wounded victims, including a woman with a gunshot wound to the head.

#14. Fire Captain Mark Mccurdy Saved His Sister-In-Law, Jessi Presten, After She Was Shot And Carried Her Back To The Hotel Room

Mark McCurdy was enjoying the Route 91 festival with his wife, Kelly, and her sister, Jessi Preston.

But when Jessi was callously shot, McCurdy discreetly carried her to Luxor hotel and called an ambulance take Jessi to Sunrise Hospital.

Without a thought for his own safety, Los Angeles fire captain went back into the danger zone to see if he could help more people.

#15. Off-Duty Firefighter Kurt Fowler Shot And Seriously Injured Whilst Shielding His Wife From Gunfire

Kurt Fowler bravely shielded his wife from gunfire during the Route 91 shooting.

The off -duty firefighter from Lake Havasu City, Arizona, was shot in his right leg and seriously wounded. 

Thankfully he has since 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.”