A memorial to honor the victims of Sunday night’s mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival is set up by members of the community on the corner of Sahara and Las Vegas Blvd, Tuesday Oct. 3, 2017.
Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017 | 2 a.m.
The evening had begun in celebration. Thousands gathered for another night of song at the long-anticipated country music festival. Some had driven or flown to Las Vegas for the three days of shows from faraway places — Tennessee, California, Alaska. And in the days and weeks before the festival, some had excitedly posted messages on social media, counting down until its start.
But when the gunfire — sudden and rapid — finally ceased Sunday night, at least 58 people had been killed and hundreds more were injured. The attack was one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.
Authorities have not yet identified all of those who died, but relatives, colleagues and friends have shared memories of some of them. Here are the stories of some of the people who died.
Charleston Hartfield
Charleston Hartfield was a military veteran, Metro Police officer and newly published author of “Memoirs of a Public Servant,” in which he touted his accomplishments and highlighted his struggles as a police officer.
One of Hartfield’s last Facebook postings — a few hours before the carnage — was of a banner of the Route 91 Harvest Festival, where the shootings took place.
Troy Rhett and Hartfield met years ago through their kids’ youth football teams.
He was a great guy, Rhett said, theorizing that Hartfield was probably trying to help others when he was killed, “putting himself in danger.”
Hartfield was “one of the best people you could ever meet,” a simple man who did things the right way, a well-rounded, caring and loving human, Rhett said.
It’s a “huge loss,” Rhett said.
In “Memoirs of a Public Servant,” which was released in the summer, Hartfield wrote about his career as a Metro officer and the personal struggles that arise from being a police officer who had witnessed the aftermath of horrific deaths.
One of the last chapters focuses on the death of two Metro officers, who were slain in a pizza parlor in 2014, and the negative but bonding effect that occurred in the agency after the incident.
Hartfield was also active on Twitter, where he interacted with local reporters. When a reporter’s car was burglarized a couple of weeks ago, he sent several messages suggesting what to do. “Get a report for sure! See if they can dust for prints.”
Quinton Robbins
An aunt of Quinton Robbins, 20, who was a student at UNLV and worked as a recreation assistant for the city of Henderson, wrote on Facebook that her nephew was among the dead.
“I can’t say enough good about this sweet soul,” the aunt, Kilee Wells Sanders, wrote of Robbins. “Everyone who met him loved him. His contagious laugh and smile.”
Robbins was the big brother who coached his little brother’s flag football team, the prom king who was nice to everyone regardless of their high school social standing, an outdoorsman who loved to fish and boat around the lake.
“The kid was loved by everyone,” said his uncle, Mike Wells. “He was popular in high school, but would walk up to the kid who wasn’t so popular and befriend him and make him feel good.”
Robbins was up on his knees, looking for a spot to take his girlfriend for shelter, when he was hit, said Wells, recounting Robbins’ girlfriend’s account of the terrifying moments.
“I think I got shot,” said Robbins, looking at her before collapsing.
“He died probably within seconds after the bullet hit him,” Wells said.
“Quinton was a pay-it-forward kinda guy,” said Tyce Jones, who has known the Robbins family for 14 years and went to church with Robbins.
“He loved his family and loved to coach his little brother’s flag football team. He will be missed,” Jones told Newsweek.
Neysa Tonks
Las Vegas resident Neysa Tonks, 46, worked in the Las Vegas offices of Technologent, an Irvine, Calif.-based technology company, and was the mother of three boys.
“Technologent lost one of our own, a great mother, colleague and friend, Neysa Tonks,” said a GoFundMe page set up by her co-workers. “She leaves behind three boys — Kaden, Braxton and Greysen. Neysa has brought so much joy, fun and laughter to Technologent — she will be greatly missed by all!”
Her brother, Cody Davis, told Fox 13 in Salt Lake City that his sister, a Utah native, was an adventurous spirit who loved skiing and hiking.
“She was a mom first, and an adventurer second. She was over-the-top fun, almost to the crazy fun. She always made people laugh,” he said.
Brennan Stewart
Cheyenne High School alumnus Brennan Stewart, 30, grew up racing dirt bikes and later in life enjoyed making music and listening to music. This weekend, posts on his Facebook page indicate, he ran into plenty of friends at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. It was there Sunday night where his life ended.
Erick Silva
Erick Silva, 21, lived in Las Vegas and worked for the Contemporary Services Corp., his stepsister, Daisy Hernandez, told ABC News.
Laura Shipp
Mother and son Laura and Corey Shipp attended Sunday’s music festival together, but they were separated as the night turned into a tragedy. Monday morning arrived, and Corey posted on Facebook that he could not locate his mother and asked his friends to help look for and pray for her. On Tuesday, Paris Shipp, another family member, posted that Laura Shipp was one of the victims of Sunday night’s shooting.
“We were all together last night when we received the news that Laura passed away in the recent, Las Vegas, tragedy. Though we have swung wildly through the entire spectrum of emotions, the one feeling that hits the hardest is the feeling of thankfulness and appreciation. So many have reached out with positive wishes and offers of help in any way. We are thinking of all the families who have been affected. Those of you who know Laura can attest to her huge heart and contagious free spirit. We ask that you all remember her that way, just as we will,” Paris Shipp wrote.
Jack Beaton
In the last photo that Jack Beaton posted on his Facebook page on Sunday evening, his companions can be seen lounging on the grass, holding beers and smiling at the camera, lights from the country music festival twinkling in the background.
“Day Three Route 91 Vegas!” he wrote in the caption.
Hours later, Beaton, of Bakersfield, Calif., was killed while shielding his wife, Laurie, from gunfire, his family said.
His father-in-law, Jerry Cook, told BakersfieldNow.com that Beaton had covered his wife’s body with his own and was shot. “He told her he loved her,” he said. “Laurie could tell he was slipping. She told him she loved him and she would see him in heaven.”
Beaton was gregarious and always helping other people; a family man who adored driving his truck with his hat on sideways, Cook said.
Beaton’s son, Jake, paid tribute to his father on Facebook. “Lost my best friend,” he wrote. “I love you so much more than you could ever imagine. Please watch over our family. You will forever be remembered as our hero!”
Kurt Von Tillow
Kurt Von Tillow, 55, was “the most patriotic person you’ve ever met,” his brother-in-law, Mark Carson, told KCRA, a local NBC News station for Cameron Park, Calif., the small town in the Sierra foothills near Sacramento where Von Tillow lived.
Von Tillow had traveled to Las Vegas for the concert with family members. His wife and daughter escaped unharmed, Carson said. Von Tillow’s sister was shot in the thigh and his niece in an ankle. Both are expected to recover.
Von Tillow’s wife told family members she was herded out of the area by the authorities amid the chaos of the shooting scene, Carson said. “That was probably the hardest part for her — having to leave him there,” he said.
On Monday, friends and family gathered at the Cameron Park Country Club, where Von Tillow was a member. At his home, family members set up a memorial with an American flag and played the national anthem.
“Guarantee you, he’s covered in red, white and blue right now, with a Coors Light in his hand, smiling with his family and listening to some music,” Carson told the television station.
Thomas Day Jr.
Thomas Day Jr., 54, was a contractor who worked in a branch of his father’s homebuilding business in Corona, Calif. He had traveled to Las Vegas to attend the concert with three of his grown children and a group of friends.
His father, Thomas Day Sr., said he received a call from his grandson late on Sunday: The three adult children and the friends were in hiding, the grandson said, but Thomas Day Jr. had been shot in the head.
The elder Day, who lives in Las Vegas, said his son, who was divorced, was a “great dad” who often attended concerts with his children.
Adrian Murfitt
Adrian Murfitt, 35, had been working 16-hour days all summer as a commercial salmon fisherman in his home state of Alaska. It was time for a break.
He gathered up two of his childhood friends and booked tickets for the Route 91 Harvest Festival, just as he had done last year, according to his sister, Shannon Gothard.
“He had such a great time when he went before, and he wanted to treat himself for a successful fishing season,” Gothard said from Anchorage.
Murfitt was an Alaskan to the core. Since he was a toddler, he loved playing hockey, Gothard said; her brother could fix almost anything mechanical; he was devoted to his dog, Paxson, a Western Siberian Laika.
Gothard said the family had pieced together her brother’s last minutes from Brian MacKinnon, a friend who was with him at the concert Sunday night. “He was just having a good time, enjoying himself and got shot in the neck,” she said of her brother. A woman standing next to Murfitt was shot in the head, MacKinnon told the family. He watched as medics tried to resuscitate Murfitt, though the medics told MacKinnon to leave the scene for his own safety.
“Sadly, he died in my arms,” MacKinnon wrote on Facebook. “I don’t really know what else to say at this time. I’m really sorry.”
Sonny Melton
When Sonny Melton and his wife, Heather Gulish Melton, heard the sound of gunshots Sunday night, he grabbed her and began to run.
“I felt him get shot in the back,” Gulish Melton told WCYB, a television station in northeast Tennessee. “I want everyone to know what a kindhearted, loving man he was, but at this point, I can barely breathe.”
Melton, 29, was described in Facebook tributes as a kind spirit, a registered nurse who worked for much of 2016 in the surgical unit at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in Jackson, Tenn.
“He was a very kind, compassionate, genuine person who lived life to the fullest, and he took great care of our patients,” said Amy Garner, a spokeswoman for the hospital. Union University, a college in Jackson, said Melton was a 2015 graduate of the school and worked in the emergency department at Henry County Medical Center.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a White House spokeswoman, said Melton and his wife had been married only a year and had traveled from Tennessee for the music festival.
“When the bullets began raining down from above, Sonny shielded her from danger, selflessly giving up his life to save hers,” Sanders said Monday.
Susan Smith
Susan Smith, 53, was a lover of country music, a devoted mother to a son and daughter, a wife and a popular office manager at an elementary school in Simi Valley, Calif.
“A wonderful person,” said her father, Tom Rementer, through tears.
She had gone to Las Vegas with friends, where she was killed during the attack, said Jake Smith, a spokeswoman for the district. Smith’s friends survived the shooting.
Lisa Romero-Muniz
Last year, Lisa Romero-Muniz’s husband, Chris, forgot their wedding anniversary. This year he was determined to make it up to her.
So he made a grand gesture, planning a four-day weekend in Las Vegas and buying tickets to see her favorite country singer, Jason Aldean. Muniz, who worked long hours at a refinery, and Romero-Muniz, a high school secretary in Gallup, N.M., left Thursday for Las Vegas, more than a six-hour drive away.
“She was beyond excited,” said Rosie Fernandez, her friend and supervisor at the high school where they worked. “For her husband to remember her anniversary and do all of that, this was a big thing for her.”
Romero-Muniz’s death, confirmed by officials at the school where she worked, left her colleagues and community shaken, her co-workers said.
Born and raised in the small city of Gallup, she was a mother of three grown children and a secretary at Miyamura High School, where she was responsible for disciplining students who got into trouble. Romero-Muniz, 48, had a warm personality and a big laugh, always teasing her co-workers, Fernandez said.
“We were known as the two loudmouths of the office,” Fernandez said. “She knew 90 percent of the kids at this school. She would talk to them like she was talking to her own children. I’d hear her saying, ‘I know you can do better than this.’”
On Monday morning, administrators put up posters around the school so that students could write on them how they were feeling. A candlelight memorial took place Monday evening.
Rachael Parker
Rachael Parker, 33, a police records technician from Manhattan Beach, Calif., was shot while attending Sunday’s concert in Las Vegas, and later died in the hospital, the Manhattan Beach Police Department confirmed in a statement Monday.
Parker was among four department employees who were attending the concert while off-duty. Another suffered minor injuries.
“She was employed with the Manhattan Beach Police Department for 10 years and will be greatly missed,” the department said in a statement.
Sandy Casey
Over the course of a carefree weekend in Las Vegas, they kept bumping into one another around the festival: at least a half dozen teachers, principals and school psychologists who worked for the Manhattan Beach School District in Southern California, taking a brief escape from their responsibilities to listen to live music.
The school district said Monday that Sandy Casey, 35, a special-education teacher originally from Vermont, was killed in the shooting. The other staff members from the district were physically unharmed.
Casey taught middle school and had worked for the district for nine years, an energetic person who delighted in her students, said Mike Matthews, the superintendent.
“She was a person who brings light wherever she is,” he said. “She has a classroom full of light and hope and caring.”
Casey’s fiancé, Chris Willemse, an instructional assistant for the district, was with Casey in Las Vegas. He wrote on Facebook: “As I sit and mourn such a beautiful life gone too fast, all I can say is look up and watch the birds fly high and free today, as that’s where I feel you smiling down upon all of us. I love you baby girl! Love you to pieces!”
Carrie Barnette
Whenever Carrie Barnette saw a hummingbird, she’d stop and marvel at the little creature.
The bird always reminded her of her grandparents who had passed away, friends and family said.
Now, her friends and family with whom she shared that personal detail, will see hummingbirds and think of her.
Barnette, who worked at Disney California Adventure, was among the people killed at the festival on Sunday night, her friends, family and The Walt Disney Co. officials confirmed Monday. Barnette, who lived in Riverside, was 34.
“She was a ray of sunshine,” said Destiny Calderon, 31, who several years ago worked with Barnette at Disney California Adventure. “She always had a smile. If you had a bad day, she would lift you up.”
Joey Castillo, who is married to Barnette’s younger sister, Amy Castillo, said this had been a shock for the whole family. Barnette had just purchased a home in Riverside, a couple of miles away from her sister.
“She’s a very loving person,” Castillo said. “She always put others before herself, was a very hard worker and she loved going to her music concerts.”
John Phippen
John Phippen, 56, was shot in the back as he danced next to his son Travis, an emergency medical technician who carried his father to a car that took them to a hospital, where he died, the Los Angeles Times said. The elder Phippen was a New York native who moved to Santa Clarita, Calif., where he owned a remodeling company.
“He just was one of those people that whether he knew you or he didn’t know you, you needed help, he was there. No questions asked,” family friend Leah Nagyivanyi told KPCC radio.
Phippen, an avid music fan, had been excited to attend the concert and have a guys’ weekend away, said Nagyivanyi. “He loved his country music,” she said. “He loved to get out there and dance, and he was just a great guy.”
Jordan McIldoon
Twenty-three-year-old Jordan McIldoon of British Columbia, Canada, was attending the festival with his girlfriend and had planned to return home Monday night, his parents, Al and Angela McIldoon, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
“We only had one child,” they told the network. “We just don’t know what to do.”
They said McIldoon was a heavy-duty mechanic apprentice and was preparing to start trade school.
Jessica Klymchuk
Jessica Klymchuk, 28, from Alberta, Canada, also was among those who died, according to Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, who expressed sympathy for the loss.
Klymchuk, a mother of four, worked as an educational assistant, librarian and bus driver at a school and went to Las Vegas with her fiance, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail.
Denise Salmon Burditus
Denise Salmon Burditus, 50, Martinsburg, W.Va, was anticipating the birth of a fifth grandchild. Instead, she died in the arms of her husband of 32 years, Tony, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Bailey Schweitzer
An avid concertgoer and country music fan girl, 20-year-old Bailey Schweitzer had been talking about going to the Route 91 Harvest Festival for weeks to hear Luke Combs play, said Katelynn Cleveland, who worked with Schweitzer in Bakersfield, Calif. They would jokingly refer to one another as their “work wives,” Cleveland said.
Hardly a day went by they didn’t talk — and when one of them was sick from work or wouldn’t show up unexpectedly, the other would call immediately, Cleveland said.
Schweitzer talked to Cleveland just hours before the shooting. She saw a photo of Cleveland’s new dog on Instagram and had messaged her, saying she couldn’t wait to meet her new puppy, Cleveland said.
Two days before that, Schweitzer called Cleveland and held the phone up to the stage. Brothers Osborne was playing her favorite song, “Ain’t my fault.” Schweitzer had to let Cleveland listen.
She was having so much fun in Las Vegas that she was already planning to head back in April for her 21st birthday, Cleveland said.
Outside of working as a receptionist at Infinity Communications, Schweitzer volunteered her time at Bakersfield Speedway, which her parents have owned since she was 5 years old.
Rhonda LeRocque
Rhonda LeRocque, 42, of Tewksbury, Mass., was an “amazing” mother who doted on her family and helped rebuild homes devastated by disaster, according to her heartbroken family.
LeRocque was attending the Route 91 Harvest festival with her husband, Jason, when she was shot and killed, said her sister, Jennifer Zeleneski.
“It makes no sense … My sister didn’t do anything,” Zeleneski, 31, said through sobs. “She never hurt people. She was the kindest person that I know. Her family is the picture-perfect family, what you would aspire to be.”
Zeleneski said her sister, who was in her early 40s, had made the trip to see the concert with her husband and 6-year-old daughter. Her daughter left the concert with another relative shortly before the shooting, Zeleneski said and LeRocque’s husband wasn’t injured, according to family.
“She was amazing,” Zeleneski said of her sister. “She would work all day and still come home and make a home-cooked meal from scratch.
“She didn’t deserve this,” she said. “This is not fair.”
Rhonda LeRocque had worked for the past 10 years at the Cambridge, Mass., office of the design firm IDEO, according to her LinkedIn page, where she wrote that she also had managed her own cleaning and organizational business.
She also loved to travel, according to Zeleneski, and on her LinkedIn page, LeRocque wrote about taking inspiration from her family’s annual trip to Hawaii. She and her husband have also traveled to do volunteer work, including in Louisiana, where they helped rebuild homes after Hurricane Katrina, according to a biography for Jason LeRocque on his company’s website.
Jordyn Rivera
Jordyn Rivera just turned 21 in July, but the Cal State San Bernardino student’s life was cut short Sunday. A native of La Verne, Calif., Rivera was a fourth-year student in the health care management program and a warm, energetic person, University President Tomás Morales said Tuesday in an email to employees and students.
“I personally got a chance to know her when we spent time together last summer in London during the summer abroad program,” Morales wrote. “As one of her faculty members noted, we will remember and treasure her for her warmth, optimism, energy, and kindness.”
Rivera was a member of CSUSB’s chapter of Eta Sigma Gamma, the national health education honor society, according to Morales.
“This is a devastating loss for the entire CSUSB family,” he said.
Angie Gomez
Angie Gomez was a 2015 graduate of Riverside Polytechnic High School in Riverside, Calif. She “will always be loved and endeared by our Poly family,” read a post on the school’s Facebook page. After graduation she went on to attend classes at Riverside Community College. A GoFundMe page seeking funds to help her family with funeral and other expenses described Gomez, 20, as “a cheerful young lady with a warm heart and loving spirit.”
Dana Gardner
Dana Gardner, 52, a deputy recorder for San Bernadino County in California, and her daughter attended the festival. While her daughter escaped injury, Gardner was killed in the attack. Dana Gardner’s sisters, Amber Harton and Hollie Brown, described their sister to KABC-TV as a “most wonderful mother, grandmother, sister.”
Her boss, Recorder and County Clerk Bob Dutton, described the 26-year employee as a “go-to person.” He said another staffer had told him that Gardner had been struck by two bullets.
Cameron Robinson
The 27-year-old St. George, Utah, resident was killed while attending the concert with his boyfriend, according to KTVX-TV in Salt Lake City. A GoFundMe page describes him as “an amazing friend, son, brother, uncle, cousin, co-worker and boyfriend.”
Chris Roybal
Navy veteran Chris Roybal, 28, Colorado Springs, Colo., already knew what it was like to be a target because he had served a tour in Afghanistan while in the Navy.
“It was never fear, to be honest, mass confusion. Sensory overload ... followed by the most amount of natural adrenaline that could never be duplicated through a needle,” Roybal wrote in a July 18 Facebook post that mentioned bullets pinging off metal all around him.
“These words will be stuck with me forever. I will never forgive this world from taking him away,” his girlfriend Maree Elmore wrote in a Facebook post on Monday referring to Roybal’s self-answered question: “What’s it like being shot at.”
Roybal was celebrating his imminent 29th birthday with his mother, Debby Allen, of Corona, Calif., when they became two of 22,000 random targets at the music festival.
“Today is the saddest day of my life,” Allen wrote in a Facebook post on Monday. “My son Christopher Roybal was murdered last night in Las Vegas. My heart is broken in a billion pieces.”
Heather Warino Alvarado
The wife of a Cedar City, Utah, firefighter, Heather Warino Alvarado, 35, made the three-hour drive from her southern Utah home to Las Vegas to get away for the weekend and take her daughter to a country music festival.
Her daughter was unharmed in the Sunday night shooting, but the 35-year-old Warino Alvarado was one of those killed when a gunman opened fire at the concertgoers.
Friends and family received confirmation she had died Monday night from Las Vegas police, according to a news release Tuesday from the Cedar City Fire Department.
Warino Alvarado ran an in-home day care center in Cedar City, and was a devoted wife and mother of three children who was always willing to help others, longtime friend Megan Jackson Gadd said.
“She has made huge impacts on those around her with even the smallest gestures,” Jackson Gadd said in a Facebook messenger conversation. “A person like her will never be replaced or forgotten and will be missed dearly every day for the rest of our lives.”
Hannah Ahlers
Hannah Ahlers, 34, Murrieta, Calif., resident, was shot in the head, according to witnesses. She is survived by three children.
Jenny Parks
Jenny Parks, 35, Palmdale, Calif., was a kindergarten teacher with Westside Union School District. Both she and her husband, Bobby, a fitness instructor, were shot Sunday night. Bobby Parks survived his injuries.
“She was an amazing person,” Rodolgo Garces, whose daughter was in Jenny Parks’ class, told KNBC-TV, Los Angeles. “She was always involved with the kids and the kids loved her.”
In addition to her husband, Jenny Parks is survived by her young children, Bryce and Leah, parents, brothers and their families.
Jennifer T. Irvine
Jennifer T. Irvine, 42, who practiced criminal and family law at the boutique law firm she owned in San Diego, was killed while attending the concert with friends.
Kyle Kraska, sports director for CBS News 8, wrote on Facebook that Irvine was a dear friend who brought joy to others and was enjoying the country music concert when she was killed.
“She was holding hands with her girlfriends singing and dancing to country music when she was shot in the head,” he wrote.
Attorney Tom Slattery wrote on Facebook that Irvine was a “good friend, colleague and business partner” who was killed by “a madman” at the festival.
“A tragic loss of a kind, generous, and beautiful lady. She will be greatly missed,” he said.
Irvine’s former stepmother remembered Irvine as a smart, loving little girl and said she wasn’t surprised she had become an attorney.
Dorene Anderson
Anchorage, Alaska, resident Dorene Anderson updated her Facebook cover photo on Thursday with a pair of palm trees under a bright blue Las Vegas sky. “My current view …” she wrote, noting that she was in Las Vegas for the “Route 91 country music festival.”
Four nights later, the 49-year-old hockey booster and mother died as a result of gunfire at the festival.
“Dorene Anderson was a saint of person,” D.J. Fauske, a longtime friend wrote in a Facebook post, according to Alaska Dispatch News. “I’ve watched her daughters grow up to become amazing women, and I know they will continue their mom’s lasting legacy.”
Rocio Guillen Rocha
Rocio Guillen Rocha, Eastvale, Calif., and her fiance, Chris Jashka, were big country music fans and traveled to Las Vegas to attend the Route 91 Harvest Festival. Rocha, who had given birth a month ago to her fourth child, Austin, was shot and killed. Jashka was not injured. A GoFundMe page lists her children as Marcus, 18; Chris, 13; Sophia 1 1/2, and Austin.
Michelle Vo
Michelle Vo, a Southern California woman who worked at New York Life Insurance in Pasadena, was among those killed in the shooting.
On Tuesday morning, a colleague at New York Life insurance company in Pasadena who knew Vo, 32, called her “one of our top agents — very ambitious and a very hard-working person.”
The woman, who asked not to be identified, described Vo as a very pleasant and outgoing person who was based in the company’s Glendale office. She said Vo had been at the company at least three years.
Top agents, she said, have to be go-getters and well-organized — two of Vo’s strongest qualities.
The colleague said the office was told on Monday that Vo may have been one of the victims of the shooting, but that it was confirmed Tuesday.
“Everyone is really upset,’’ she said.
Stacee Etcheber
On Tuesday morning, the family of Stacee Etcheber, a 50-year-old Novato, Calif., mother of two school-age children, shared the news they had dreaded.
“It’s with a heavy heart and deep sorrow, Stacee Etcheber has passed away,” brother-in-law Al Etcheber of San Francisco wrote on Facebook. “Please pray for our family during this difficult time. She leaves behind two adoring beautiful children and an amazing husband. Thank you to everyone for all the support in this past few days.
We will dearly miss you. ...”
Etcheber attended the concert with her husband, Vinnie, a San Francisco police officer. Vinnie Etcheber, who was off duty when the massacre at the Las Vegas outdoor concert began, urged his wife and their two friends to run while he stayed behind and assisted the wounded.
He spent more than 18 hours trying to find her, searching each hospital in the city.
Martin Halloran, president of the San Francisco Police Officers’ Association, described Stacee Etcheber as “a wonderful, caring wife, mother and daughter.” Halloran said a team of Vinnie Etcheber’s fellow officers traveled to Las Vegas to provide support.
“She will be terribly missed,” Halloran wrote in a release. “Our deepest condolences go out to the entire Etcheber family and our thoughts and prayers are with all those who lost a loved one during this tragic attack.”
Bill Wolfe Jr.
Bill Wolfe Jr. and his wife, Robyn, were well known in the Pennsylvania college town of Shippensburg, where he was a Little League and wrestling coach. On Monday, community members gathered to pay homage to Bill Wolf Jr. after word spread through the central Pennsylvania borough that he had been killed at the Las Vegas music festival.
“It is with the most of broken hearts, the families of Bill Wolfe Jr. and his wife, Robyn, share that Bill has been confirmed to be among the deceased as a result of the mass attack in Las Vegas,” wrote the Shippensburg Police Department in a Facebook post. “Please continue to hold our entire family as well as those affected across the nation in your unending prayers.”
Wolfe, 42, had initially been considered missing after becoming separated from his wife during the chaos of the shooting. Family members flew to Las Vegas on Monday night to determine if he was among the dead or injured, PennLive reported.
“Dear Shippensburg Wrestling family and community, we are saddened to share that Coach Bill Wolfe is among the victims of the tragedy that occurred in Las Vegas last night,” read the post on the Shippensburg Greyhound Wrestling Facebook page Monday. “His wife is OK, but Bill’s condition is presently unknown.”
The Shippensburg Little League had a post of its own noting that Wolfe “has been a big part of the Little League community and he and his family need our support at this time.”
Kelsey Breanne Meadows
The family of 28-year-old Kelsey Meadows, Taft, Calif., was hopeful the substitute teacher would be located after she was reported missing at this weekend’s Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. Tuesday morning via Facebook, her brother Brad announced the family’s worst fears: “My family and I want to take a minute and thank everyone that has been trying to help us locate my sister.
“So it is with an absolutely shattered heart that I let everyone know that Kelsey did not survive this tragic event.
“Please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers as we try and move past this horrible time.”
Meadows graduated from Taft Union High School in 2007 and earned a bachelor’s degree from Fresno State University. She returned and served as a regular substitute for Taft Union High School District since 2012.
“Kelsey was smart, compassionate and kind. She had a sweet spirit and a love for children,” Taft Union High School Principal Mary Alice Finn said. “Words cannot adequately capture the sorrow felt by her students, colleagues and friends in learning of her passing.”
Christiana Duarte
Christina Duarte worked as a fan services associate for the Los Angeles Kings and was the sister of Mikey Duarte a top prospect in the Chicago White Sox organization. Country music, though, brought her and her brother’s girlfriend to Las Vegas and this weekend’s Route 91 festival.
There, both Christiana Duarte, 22, of Redondo Beach, Calif., and Ariel Bellflower were shot. Bellflower survived with a fractured jaw; Christiana Duarte did not, friends told the Daily Breeze in Torrance, Calif.
Tara Roe Smith
Tara Roe Smith, 34, of Alberta, Canada, went to Las Vegas with her husband, Zach, for a weekend getaway.
Her aunt, Val Rodgers, said Smith was among those who died in the music festival shooting in Las Vegas.
“She was a beautiful soul. She was a wonderful mother and our family is going to miss her dearly,” Rodgers said Tuesday.
Smith, the mother of two young boys, lived in Okotoks.
Calla Medig
Calla Medig, who grew up in Jasper, Alberta, had taken time off from her job at Moxie’s restaurant in west Edmonton to attend the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, said her boss, Scott Collingwood.
“This had started to become an annual thing for her. I believe it was her third trip,” Collingwood said.
When news broke about the shooting Sunday, Collingwood said he immediately called Medig. It went right to voicemail, and she didn’t answer texts or Facebook messages. The Canadian woman had died in the shooting.
“She was kind of a rock and, as of Thursday, she would have been our newest manager,” Collingwood said. “A lot of us around here have super heavy hearts, and we already miss her.”
Keri Galvan
Keri and Justin Galvan made the trek from Thousand Oaks, Calif., with friends to attend the final night of the Route 91 music festival. In a Facebook post, another friend, Stefanie Reines, described a series of texts from her brother about what befell the parents of three children, ages 10, 4 and 2: “Justin called me crying and told me what happened. She died in his arms and he wouldn’t leave her, so instead of running for safety, he started to administer CPR to other victims …”
A GoFundMe account seeks to raise money for funeral expenses, bills and the couple’s children.
Austin Davis
A 29-year-old pipefitter from Riverside, Calif., Austin Davis traveled to Las Vegas and was among those shot at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. His girlfriend, Aubree Bennigan, began searching for him in the aftermath, posting on Facebook early Monday from Sunrise Hospital that she didn’t know the extent of his injuries or his whereabouts. By Monday night, she was notified that Davis was one of the deceased victims.
“Tonight we lost an amazing man. Austin, my love, I can’t believe this happened. You didn’t deserve this,” Hennigan posted.
