A Nottinghamshire couple narrowly avoided being gunned down in America’s worst mass shooting by taking cover behind tables and hay bales.
Steve and Sharon Jones, from Worksop, were on holiday and attending an open-air music festival in Las Vegas when Stephen Paddock, 64, opened fire on the crowd.
The couple had been near the stage taking pictures of singer Jason Aldean before moving towards the back of the crowd, when Paddock opened fire.
Steve, 57, told the Mirror: “Sharon had been at the front, where the gunman seemed to be aiming, five minutes earlier. We dived behind some hay bales so he wouldn’t see us.
“We grabbed some tables and overturned them to protect us. We didn’t know where he was.
“We just sat there for 25 minutes until it all seemed to die down. It’s horrendous to think there were so many deaths.
“If Sharon had gone down to the front five minutes later, she probably wouldn’t be here today. It was pandemonium.”
At least 59 people were killed and 527 were injured in the shooting on Sunday evening.
Paddock, of Mesquite, Nevada, shot from from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel into the crowd. He was found dead inside the hotel room by police, close to an arsenal of automatic weapons. The motive for the massacre is unclear.
Sharon, 51, added: “A woman said it was fireworks but I was looking in the sky and didn’t see any.
“Then Steve said it was gunfire, we just ran. There were people fleeing in all directions, knocking other people out of the way.”
“People were diving into burger vans just to get to safety. It was absolute bedlam. We didn’t want to leave, as far as we knew the gunman could have been outside waiting for us.
“Eventually we got to another hotel where our American friends were staying and spent the night with them.
“My heart goes out to all of the victims. They were country fans like us and didn’t deserve to die.”
The final performances of the three-day Route 91 country music festival were in full swing when the gunman struck.
British tennis star Laura Robson, 23, was also at the festival.
She tweeted: “I’m OK. We were right there, sounded like fireworks at first then everyone started running. Scary.”
