Originally posted by The Utah Statesman on October 1, 2018.
A year ago today, the deadliest mass shooting in the United States occurred just 500 miles away in Las Vegas, Nevada. That place also happens to be my hometown.
Fans of country music gathered on the Las Vegas strip for the Route 91 Harvest Festival on Oct. 1, 2017. During the concert, a man opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel overlooking the festival. The mass shooting resulted in 58 deaths and nearly 500 injuries, according to CNN.
I remember the night of Sept. 30. I received a notification from Facebook that an active shooter was somewhere near the Mandalay Bay hotel. But being from a big city like Las Vegas, I see notifications like that a lot. Most of the time, it isn’t real, so I brushed it off my shoulder and went to bed.
I woke up the next morning with news notifications on my phone. “Over thirty dead in a Las Vegas shooting,” “Blood donors needed in Clark County,” and “Death toll rising in Route 91 shooting.” A text popped up from the family I nannied in Washington, D.C. during the summer asking if I was okay. More texts asking the same thing from family and friends. It was unbelievable.
I had been at the site of the shooting many times as I grew up in Vegas. I drove down the strip and listened to the Bellagio fountains water fall during summer nights in high school. A year earlier, I took my roommates down to show them the city I loved so much. I love my hometown and I never thought something like this could ever happen there.
I was lucky to be up in Logan and attending school when the shooting happened, but my heart was in Vegas.
One year later, Las Vegas is stronger than ever.
The city and its residents have adopted the phrase “Vegas Strong” in an effort to recover from the shooting as a community. If you’ve visited the city in the last year, you’ve probably noticed the phrase plastered bright on marquee lights of the strip.
The first time I visited Las Vegas after the shooting was just three weeks after the shooting. I thought I would be depressed. I thought that the city would be in recovery and its residents would be in mourning. I’m glad to report, I was wrong.
“Vegas Strong” was hanging in front of any place you went: gas stations, restaurants, schools and more. Everyone stood in solidarity with the victims of the shooting. Everyone seemed to be motivated by the tragedy.
“‘Vegas Strong’ still gives me chills when I see it posted,” said Meghan Tatom, a Las Vegas native and senior at Utah State. “The feeling of togetherness was very evident in Vegas after this.”
Something that added to the togetherness was the opening season of Las Vegas’s first professional sports team: the Vegas Golden Knights. The hockey team had its season opener a week after the shooting. The team honored volunteers, victims and the community affected by the shooting. Jersey number 58 was eventually retired in honor of the 58 people who died.
Player David Perron wrote an essay about the experience of Vegas’s recovery for the Players Tribune.
“I won’t forget opening night at T-Mobile Arena for the rest of my life,” Perron said. “I wish, above everything else, that nobody would have to be a part of something like that. But to see the way the city responded was so special. The moment of silence … it was breathtaking. Usually during a moment of silence you can hear a few coughs or noises, but that night, there was nothing — just silence. We could feel the pain of the tragedy for those few seconds … everyone could.”
I remember attending my first Golden Knights game a few weeks after the shooting. Everyone at T-Mobile Arena was wearing “Vegas Strong” shirts and smiling and having a great time. I got tears in my eyes just walking around.
The hype of the Golden Knights hasn’t faded yet, too. Each game gives Las Vegas something to be excited about and keep up with. The Golden Knights made it to the Stanley Cup Finals this year, the first team to ever get that far in their inaugural season.
“It was like Vegas was drowning and the Knights pulled us all up for air,” Tatom said. “My family didn’t even live there anymore yet they never missed streaming a game. Everyone came together to get stronger.”
The Las Vegas community is taking big steps forward as they remember the one year anniversary of the shooting. KSL.com recently reported that parents of victim Neysa Davis Tonks have started a scholarship fund for the families of other victims.
This morning, there was also a sunrise ceremony with speakers and singers to remember the events that took place a year ago today. The ceremony included 58 seconds of silence to honor the 58 victims, according to Fox News.
Fox 5 reports the 58 crosses that were famously placed in front of the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign are back this morning, as well.
Vegas Born and Vegas Strong today and everyday.