Chris Young Releases Statement Following Las Vegas Attack

Country singer Chris Young was backstage at the Route 91 Festival in Las Vegas when a gunman opened fire Sunday night, unleashing a reign of terror for over 10 minutes upon tens of thousands of concertgoers.

While the 31-year-old “Man I Want to Be” singer shared his thoughts on social media, updating fans of his well-being on Oct. 2 and expressing how he’s “lucky to be alive,” he hasn’t released a formal statement — that is until now.

On Wednesday, Young took to Instagram to briefly discuss the event, captioning the candid video as, “Vegas was the scariest night of my life, but hopefully music can help heal.”

“People lost their lives, people were injured, and I’m so heartbroken over that,” Young said. “My thoughts are with those families and everyone who had to go through that ordeal. That should never happen at a concert.”

Young, who took cover in a trailer behind the stage during the shooting, goes on to share he how hugged his family and discussed what he was going to do this week as far as his concert dates, including his show at the Big Fresno Fair in Fresno, California.

“I’m going to play tonight, but I’m a musician and music can heal,” he said.

With a very quiet, somber voice, Young ended his video by thanking the first responders, firefighters and police officers and “everybody that was helping people they just didn’t even know.”

Young and his band were forced to take cover as bullets rained down on the festival grounds this past Sunday. In a series of tweets posted on the night of the attack, Young shared his harrowing night that left him “shaking.”

On the night of Oct. 1, 64-year-old domestic terrorist Stephen Paddock opened fire on Route 91 Harvest festival concertgoers from his hotel suite at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. In addition to killing 58 people and injuring 500 more, Paddock took his own life during exchanged gunfire with authorities.

Photo Credit: Instagram / @chrisyoungmusic