Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
VEGAS MASSAC
THE instant Bryan Hopkins saw people in the Las Vegas concert crowd fall to the ground, he knew bullets, not firecrackers, were ripping through the air.
Grabbing the hands of the nearest two strangers, Nicole Ruffino and her friend, he led them to take refuge inside a refrigerator truck backstage.
And there, huddled together as more than 1,000 rounds from Stephen Paddock’s guns killed 58 people, Bryan kept Nicole safe – and fell in love.
Now, days before the first anniversary of the worst mass shooting in modern US history, inseparable Bryan, 49, and Nicole, 25, reveal how they found each other while hiding from a killer.
Bryan says: “October 1 will always stay with us because of that horrific tragedy. But now this first anniversary is not just about remembering those that lost their lives, but celebrating how lucky I am to have met Nicole.
“I remember telling Nicole that night I would always be there for her as words of support in that situation – but now those words have taken on new meaning.
“It really was the key moment in my life. I held her hand and fell in love with her instantly.”
Nicole took slightly longer to realise she had found love in the arms of the man who sheltered her.
She says: “Bryan saved me that night, but in the next few months, I fell in love with a warm, caring, creative man, and I am so grateful.”
Bryan, a country music artist, was hailed a hero in the aftermath of the massacre.
He and radiographer
Nicole were strangers standing next to each other in the crowd at the Route 91
Harvest Festival when Paddock began firing from floor 32 of the Mandalay
Bay hotel.
Bryan took hold of
Nicole and her friend
Nicole
Yorba, and