October 1st, 2017 was a day that was supposed to be great fun, but instead it was a nightmare. The Route 91 country concert was an amazing experience until it became a place of chaos on the evening of the 1st. Confusion, fright, and desperation are a few of the many emotions I felt that night, as my girlfriend, her family, and I had to run for our lives. Even though all of us became emotional when the shooting began, I needed to take control, as I have volunteered for Rancho Cucamonga Fire at numerous active shooter and mass casualty incident trainings.
7Seven people, including myself, were in our group. In order to keep all of us together, I encouraged everyone to grab belt loops and form a single file line and run towards the closest emergency exit. I had known of this exit because I was told in training to always be aware of your closest exit in the case that it would be needed. As shots were being fired, we crouched down low behind food vendor carts until the shooter would stop and reload, that's. That's when we would run. Fortunately, the exit we used was not as impacted as all of the others, and we made it to the Tropicana Casino for refuge, luckily. Luckily, all of us were okay.
As time had passed and I began to feel okay to talk about my experience, I had mentioned to a few fellow explorers that I was at Route 91. I was approached by Captain Fejeran during a Wednesday night explorer meeting, and he offered me an opportunity to see a grief counselor that both my girlfriend and I could attend together. I was so very grateful for the opportunity and will be forever thankful for what Captain Fejeran and Rancho Cucamonga Fire did to help us in our time of need.