Connor Grevin was with his girlfriend Sunday when Stephen Craig Paddock fired upon the crowd of 22,000 country music fans, indiscriminately spraying bullets in what is the now the largest mass shooting in modern United States history.
It was supposed to be a great concert and a great date for Grevin, 20, who had attended the event with girlfriend Julie Smith. At first, they thought the shots they heard were part of the show; it soon became very clear that they were not.
"As soon as I looked, this girl takes a bullet straight through her right shoulder blade and she just hits the floor and her guy takes a knee and tries to talk to her," said Grevin, who hunched over Smith to protect her as people frantically ran for cover.
In front of them, Grevin saw as another couple fell victim to the gunfire, a man collapsing to the ground as a bullet pierced the side of his neck, the man's girlfriend splattering blood on Grevin and Smith as a round pieced the back of her head.
Grevin and Smith eventually made it behind an RV, where they continued to witness the carnage. A man dragged a woman who was coughing up blood after apparently being shot in the chest. The woman's friend knelt over her, crying as she urged, "Come on, don't die on me, don't die on me."
As a man shot through the foot was dragged toward them, Grevin got on the phone with his mother, who at first could not believe what she was hearing.
"I said, 'Mom, I'm being serious. I don't think we're going to make it out of this, so I just want you to tell dad that I love him, and I want you to tell my brothers that I love them."
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Now back home, Grevin is dealing with the aftermath and trying to absorb the information, including videos of the shooting.
"I just can't get people's screams out of my head," he said. "Every time I see that video and I hear those gunshots it's like you relive that whole thing again."
Grevin recalled praying with Smith as the pair ducked behind the RV. Those prayers will continue, he said. "I will sit and pray every night for those families that have to deal with their loss and the tragedy because of some despicable act."
"I think we need to look at a nation that is filled with so much division," Grevin said, "and we need to make this event, this act of terrorism, not divide us anymore and we need to let it unify us."
