Family members of Christiana Duarte embrace at the end of a Sunrise Remembrance Ceremony, honoring victims of the Oct. 1, 2017 mass shooting, at the Clark County Government Ceremony Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. Duarte, of Torrance, Calif., was one of the victims killed in the Oct. 1 mass shooting.
Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022 | 11:28 a.m.
Eighteen hours passed between the onset of a mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival on Oct. 1, 2017, and when California native Kandis Gumbs and her family got the call they feared the most — her cousin, 22-year-old Christiana Duarte, had been killed in the gunfire.
“That was one of the hardest days of our lives,” Gumbs said.
It would have been even harder, Gumbs said, if it weren’t for the outpouring of support she and her family felt from the Las Vegas community and beyond. From that initial day five years ago, tons of people were donating food, clothes, blood and more to those in need, she said.
In the darkest time of their lives, Gumbs said, that support was a guiding light.
“Out of the evil, no one understands how many good people there are,” she said. “And it’s sad, but our family is truly blessed to be able to have so much support from victims’ families to survivors to complete strangers.”
Gumbs and her family, wearing shirts with a picture of Duarte and the words “in loving memory,” were one of dozens in attendance today at the annual Sunrise Remembrance Ceremony, which honored the 58 people killed and more than 800 people wounded after a gunman opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest country music festival five years ago.
A great crowd composed of people in cowboy boots and hats, college memorabilia, or T-shirts bearing the words “Vegas Strong,” “Country Stronger” and more gathered on the grass about 7:30 a.m. at the Clark County Government Center amphitheater.
In addition to the Presentation of Colors, the playing of “Taps” and more by the Southern Nevada Multiagency Honor Guard, victims of the shooting were recognized with 58 seconds of silence and performances by country artist Sam Riddle.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that,” Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson said during the ceremony in borrowing a line from Martin Luther King Jr. “Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.”
The fifth anniversary of the Oct. 1 tragedy seems like a milestone compared to the previous four, Gibson told the Las Vegas Sun, and it’s important that the community comes together to remember what must be remembered.
The lives of many wonderful people were cut short that day, Gibson said, and grief, worry and anxiety settled into those that loved them. At times like this, the community must focus on what brings everyone together, he said.
“We also need to remember and honor the stories of all the everyday heroes that night,” Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said in the ceremony, after recounting the story of off-duty Metro Police officer Charleston Hartfield who sprung into action at the festival and was ultimately killed in the shooting. “Those who took care of the person next to them, despite not even knowing their names. Those who banded together to escape the hail of bullets. They, too, were heroes in the face of evil.”
Denise Zimmerman, left, and her sister Lori Shelton, cousins of Mary Jo von Tillow, attend a Sunrise Remembrance Ceremony, honoring victims of the Oct. 1, 2017 mass shooting, at the Clark County Government Ceremony Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. Kurt von Tillow, Mary Jos husband, is one of the victims killed in the Oct. 1 mass shooting.
Following remarks by Lombardo, Gibson and Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, Oct. 1 shooting victim Jordan McIldoon’s mother, Angela McIldoon, took to the stage.
As the sun rose behind McIldoon and showered the amphitheater in light, she told the story of her son, a 23-year-old Canadian who had been to the Route 91 Harvest country music festival before and was in attendance with his girlfriend when he was struck and killed by gunfire.
McIldoon reflected on the kindness of the Las Vegas community in the wake of the shooting, citing the support she and her husband received. In immediate ways, she said, like the transport of Jordan’s body and the cost of his funeral, and in more long-term ways, like how the city honors victims of the shooting, and how politicians and sports franchises have recognized them.
The unexpected gift born of the loss of her son is the relationships she and her husband have formed with families of the 58 victims, McIldoon said. There is a compassionate bond between them that comes from shared experience, she said.
“We all know what it feels like to have our lives laid bare for all the world to see, and to have lost a member of our family,” she said. “We lift each other up and we check in on one another. We truly treasure these friendships.”
Jordan McIldoon was talented at whatever he took on, McIldoon said of her son, from riding dirt bikes to operating snowmobiles to wakeboarding. There wasn’t much he couldn’t do, she said.
“I still look for him, and sometimes I see him in the scruffy red beard of a young man in line or a well-worn pair of boots and jeans on someone,” she said. “I look for his bright blue eyes and the shape of his chin and a big smile. It’s never him, but I’ve never stopped looking for him and yearning for him to come home.”
The ceremony neared its end with pictures of the victims playing on a screen behind Riddle as he performed his original song honoring the victims of the shooting and the city’s resilience, “Vegas Strong” and “Amazing Grace.”
The Oct. 1 shooting remains the deadliest in modern U.S. history, with two additional victims dying of their injuries as recently as 2020.
Every year since the shooting has felt just like the first, Gumbs said, but she and her family have reached a point in their healing process where they are ready to build upon Duarte’s legacy of love and give back to the community in her honor.
Gumbs said the memories she has of her cousin motivate her, and she tries to share them all with her two children — Duarte’s godchildren.
“It’s definitely hard, but I want to continue to have them know that she was a kind, loving, fun, amazing, life-of-the-party person,” she said. “ … Those memories are definitely the ones that are pushing me to continue her good name.”
