Jason Aldean urges people to ‘come together and stop the hate’
Jason Aldean posted an emotional plea to Instagram early Tuesday, urging people to “come together and stop the hate” in the wake of a shooting rampage that killed at least 59 people and injured hundreds more who were attending the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas.
The country singer was the closing act for the three-day country music concert and had just started playing his 2013 hit “When She Says Baby” as gunfire erupted Sunday night. Police say that 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire on festival attendees from the window of his suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, across the street from the festival grounds.
“Over the last 24 hrs I have gone through lots of emotions,” Aldean wrote in his message, also posted to Twitter. “Scared, Anger, Heartache, Compassion and many others. I truely (sic) don’t understand why a person would want to take the life of another.”
“Something has changed in this country and in this world lately that is scary to see. The world is becoming the kind of place I am afraid to raise my children in,” added the singer, whose wife, Brittany Kerr, is pregnant with their first child. Aldean has two daughters from a previous marriage.
“At the end of the day we aren’t Democrats or Republicans, Whites or Blacks, Men or Women,” he continued. “We are all humans and we are all Americans and its time to start acting like it and stand together as ONE!”
Aldean ended his message by offering his prayers to the victims of Sunday’s massacre. “Just know u all are in my heart and my prayers as we all go through this together,” he wrote. “Time to come together and stop the hate!”