‘PEOPLE WERE RUNNING AND COVERED IN BLOOD’

Dream holiday brings Kerry man face to face with US nightmare

A DREAM holiday in Las Vegas brought a Kerry man face-to-face with the nightmare that engulfed the city when a lone gunman opened fire on a concert audience on Sunday night, leaving 59 people dead and hundreds injured. Seán Godley, from Lerrig, Ardfert, was walking on the Strip with friends when he heard the hail of gunshots and the screams of those injured ring out into the night. “Suddently they started seeing people screaming and running towards them, covered in blood,” Seán’s brother, James, told The Kerryman on Tuesday Back home, Seán’s family didn’t know if he had escaped the carnage as they waited for news from Las Vegas. “We didn’t know if he was at that concert or another one so we didn’t know what was happening, whether he was alive or injured,” James said.

A NORTH Kerry native and former student of Mercy Mounthawk Secondary School in Tralee was just metres away from the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas when the mass shooting that shocked the world began on Sunday night.

From Lerrig, Seán Godley and a group of friends had landed in Las Vegas on a holiday late last week and were enjoying the final few days of the trip when they were caught up in the deadliest shooting massacre in modern US history.

Seán’s hotel was on lockdown on Monday and The Kerryman heard details of Sean’s plight from his brother James who eas able to contact his family and tell them that he was safe.

“They were just out on The Strip walking, they were just a few hundred metres from the concert, when they heard gunshots ring out,” said James.

“Suddenly, they started seeing people screaming and running towards them, all covered in blood,” he continued.

“They freaked out, they said they didn’t know what was going on and so and they decided to go back to their hotel at the MGM Grand. He told me that they were looking out the window at the scenes below and that it was just mayhem, people were screaming, crying and running everywhere.”

“They were terrified. As they were in a place like America they were immediately thinking ‘this is a terrorist attack’.”

James said that Sean and his friends were kept on lock-down in their hotel for over 24 hours due to the police investigation on the streets below.

“They weren’t allowed out onto the streets at all. He said there was just police everywhere.”

James, who has recently moved back from Canada, said that once news of the shooting broke in Ireland it was a living nightmare for himself and his family as they waited to hear if Seán was okay.

“We knew that he was heading to some sort of concert that night, so when news broke about the shooting at a concert and that there were possible deaths and serious injuries, your mind immediately starts to think the worst.”

“My mother was in an awful panic and because his phone is broken, we couldn’t get through to him for ages and we’d heard nothing from him. We didn’t know if he was at that concert or another one so we didn’t know what was happening, whether he was alive or injured.

Seán eventually managed to make contact through a friend’s phone and James recalled the “pure relief ” in his house when they heard he was okay.

Seán is due to fly home to Ireland today (Wednesday) and James said his family will simply be happy to have him back on home soil.

Victims being treated at the scene of the gun massacre at a country music festival in Las Vegas on Sunday. INSET: Seán Godley from Ardfert who heard the gunshots and the screams.

Lerrig’s Seán Godley and his friends were kept on lockdown for 24 hours after the shooting.