After a gunman opened fire on an audience at a country music festival in Las Vegas, killing 59 and injuring 515 others, Music City is uniting to support Vegas.
Nashville Mayor Megan Barry announced that a vigil will be held in Nashville on Monday night to show support for the Las Vegas mass shooting victims and their families.
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“An unimaginable scene of terror in Las Vegas,” Barry tweeted about the tragedy. “My heart goes out to the victims of this shooting and their loved ones.”
“This tragedy hits especially close to home as so many of the artists and crew represented at this music festival are Nashvillians seeking to entertain and bring joy to country music fans around the world,” Barry also tweeted. “My heart goes out to the friends and family members of the victims of this deadly shooting, and we pray for a speedy recovering of those injured.”
The vigil, organized by the Office of the Mayor, the Country Music Association and Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, will take place on Monday, Oct. 2 at 6 p.m. at Ascend Amphitheater, according to a press release.
The vigil aims to give Nashvillians an opportunity to show their love for the victims of the deadly shooting. More information about the vigil will be announced later in the day, according to the press release.
Country music superstar Jason Aldean was performing on stage when 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire from a hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Other country music artists who had performed earlier in the day were Jake Owen, Big & Rich and Kane Brown.
Aldean shared his thoughts on social media early Monday morning.
“Tonight has been beyond horrific,” he began in an Instagram post. “I still don’t know what to say but wanted to let everyone know that me and my crew are safe.”
“My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved tonight. It hurts my heart that this would happen to anyone who was just coming out to enjoy what should have been a fun night,” he added.
Owen told FOX News about witnessing the event, saying that he thought the gunshots were fireworks at first..
“When the shots started being fired, at first I thought it was pyrotechnics,” Owen said. He went on to say that he noticed bullets ricocheting “off of the top of the stage and on the stage,” and he then “noticed people literally being shot.”
“It was pretty chaotic,” he said. “People were running in all directions.”
Owen went on to offer his gratitude for the swift response of the law enforcement officials and first responders for “putting their lives on the line to keep our lives safe during a moment like this.”
“We put on concerts to take people away from the day-to-day life, to bring them to a happy place and this isn’t by any means what’s supposed to happen at these things,” he said. “I think us, as a community, aren’t going to let this bring us down either. We’re going to continue to do what we do… because this isn’t what our America is supposed to be like. We’ve got to fix this.”
