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Metro Detroiter on strip during Las Vegas shooting: 'I bolted - I ran'

Posted at 6:07 AM, Oct 02, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-02 15:32:06-04

Las Vegas Police have said 58 people were killed and 515 injured early Sunday morning after a gunman opened fire on a large crowd near the Strip during a country music concert.

Family and friends of those on vacation are awaking to the news and panicking.

One former Detroiter, Anne Marie Pacitto, told 7 Action News she’s scared because she can’t get ahold of her father who was in Las Vegas this weekend.

“I’ve been constantly texting and calling,” said Pacitto. “I just want to know that my Dad is okay, my best friend is safe, and my close colleagues are okay.”

Others like Liana Trevino, an Ann Arbor native, were caught up in the disaster. She is safe, but shaken up after a crowd began running toward her friend, and her friend’s mother.

Trevino described the incident as pure chaos, within moments she was separated from her friends and being ushered into a casino vault.

“They were just rushing people into the doors saying, ‘Come on! We’ve got to get people in, we’ve got to get people in! We need to close the doors, there is a shooter,’” said Trevino, still shaken by the scene.

“I bolted – I ran,” she said, pausing and rustling something on the other end of the phone. “I didn’t know where my girl friend and her mom went. I couldn’t see where they ran too.”

Trevino said she’s since found out that her friends were on lockdown inside MGM Casino, not far from the shooting scene – police were keeping people inside at the last time they were able to communicate.

Others are still struggling to make connections, and ensure that their loved ones are safe.