“I would do anything to get in touch with that Marine,” said Brady Tubbs solemnly as he and his daughter Megan talked about her harrowing experience at the country music festival in Las Vegas last Sunday where 59 people were killed and over 500 were injured.
Tubbs was attending the outdoor concert with three of her friends from St. George. She had moved about 20 feet away from her group to be closer to the stage where there was room to dance with a young man she had just met who is serving in the US Marines.
When the gunman’s first shots fired, Tubbs didn’t know what was going on. She thought the sound was fireworks. The young man she was dancing with knew that the sound was gunfire, so he grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the concert at a dead run. As they hunched behind a police car, Tubbs watched in horror as people fell to the ground and blood streamed. The Marine told her to run away, and then he went back into the concert venue to help other people.
She didn’t know his name and hasn’t seen him since, but she will be forever grateful for his awareness and his choice to save her life.
Two of Tubb’s friends were hit by gunfire. One friend, Liz, was hit in the leg and seriously injured, another, Chanel, was grazed both on her hand and leg.
The concert was in mayhem and people were running. Some concert goers ran in fright while others stayed to help the injured. One of the other members of Tubb’s group did exactly that. A man pulled his truck near the venue to load the wounded into. Tubb’s friend, Morgan, loaded Liz into the back of the truck and then ran to help other wounded. “She took off her clothes to use as torniquetes,” explained Tubbs with admiration, “There were so many people helping each other. It was amazing.”
Tubbs eventually found one of her friend’s mothers and they all reunited at the Sun Rise Hospital in Las Vegas. “It was insane, there were so many people injured, covered in blood and families were mourning. It was overwhelming.” Liz was shot in the tibia. Doctors had to perform surgery on her leg. She was released from the hospital last night.
Ever grateful for the kindness of others, Brady Tubbs, a resident of the area, is spending a few in St. George with Megan as she, “clings to family for support.” Going forward she will remember that, “life is precious and there are a lot of good people out there with good hearts.”
The love and support from the local community have meant a lot to Tubbs, from the Facebook posts to the text messages and phone calls. Tearfully she expressed, “We are very blessed to be alive.”
Tubbs’ Las Vegas survival story
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