A number of people with Bay Area ties who were in Las Vegas at the time deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history described a chaotic scene as bullets flew from a hotel room and thousands of concertgoers scrambled for cover Sunday night.
The shooter, who was stationed on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, killed at least 59 people and injured hundreds more attending a country music festival at an outdoor venue, according to officials. Scores more were left with emotional and psychological scars.
Ralph Henderson of Pleasanton was sitting in a taxi near the hotel-casino when he heard the gunfire.
"It sounded like firecrackers, but they were very big firecrackers," Henderson said. "At that point, I knew it wasn't because they were too fast, coming too fast."
The barrage of bullets would last for roughly 20 seconds before stopping for about 10 to 15 seconds, Henderson recounted. Repeated volleys of fire continued for approximately 10 minutes.
Henderson eventually made his way back into his hotel room, bringing a group of frantic concertgoers with him.
Local
"One of the guy's shirts was covered with blood," Henderson said.
The faces of those arriving back to the Bay Area from Las Vegas said it all, their stories of survival still sinking in. Most were still in shock.
"People were hit right by us," said David Fox, who arrived at Oakland International Airport on Monday. "Chest, face, hand. There were bodies everywhere; people were hit all over."
Survivor Paula Blakely said, "I fell, and a gentleman pulled me up and said, 'You're OK, keep running.'"
Ortal Cohen and Ido Taub, who landed in San Francisco Monday morning after a trip to southern Nevada, had just finished dinner near the Las Vegas Strip and were walking away from the eatery when they spotted hundreds of people "just running for their lives," Taub said.
"They were like so shocked," Cohen said. "They were like screaming, and it was kind of [a] shocking thing to see."
Larosa Wasim was also one of the other passengers who departed Las Vegas for San Francisco early Monday. She was at an event connected to Bally's Las Vegas Hotel and Casino when she was notified about the shooting. She rushed to her car and tried to leave a parking garage, but mayhem ensued.
"It was pure chaos," she said. "People were running. Down below Bally's, people actually slammed into one another and broke the glass out trying to get out — and that's pretty thick glass — just trying to escape."
Andre Walters had a three-day pass for the Route 91 Harvest Festival and attended on Friday, but he and his girlfriend decided not to go on Saturday and Sunday after she fell ill. Walters tried to pass on his tickets to his son and son-in-law, but they refused — two refusals that Walters is now grateful for.
"Thank God we didn't go," he said.
Walters, who lives in Las Vegas and works in the Bay Area during the week, arrived at San Francisco International Airport on Monday in a state of shock, still clutching his festival wristband.
"I haven't slept all night," he said.
A friend of Walters' son's friends was among those killed in the shooting. At least 515 others were hurt.
"The family all at home is pretty devastated," Walters said.
The massacre in Las Vegas marks the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
NBC Bay Area's Jodi Hernandez contributed to this report.
