Victim shielded wife from attack
Robert Mendick and
Helena Horton
JACK BEATON saved the life of his wife Laurie when he lay on top of her to shield her from the bullets raining down on them.
The couple, from Bakersfield, Cali- fornia, were at the Las Vegas concert to celebrate their 23rd wedding anniversary.
“He put Laurie on the ground and covered her with his body and he got shot I don’t know how many times,” said Mr Beaton’s father-in-law, Jerry Cook. “He was bleeding through the mouth, bleeding profusely, she knew he was dying. He told her he loved her. Laurie could tell he was slipping. She told him she loved him and she would see him in heaven.”
Mr Beaton was identified yesterday as one of at least 59 victims of the deadliest shooting in modern US history.
Chris Roybal, 28, from California, who had completed a recent tour of duty in Afghanistan, was also among the dead.
Mr Roybal’s mother, Debby Allen, who was at the concert to mark her birthday, said: “He went to combat and came back without being injured, and then goes to a concert and dies.”
The fiancé of Sandy Casey, 35, a special education teacher, tried in vain to save her by plugging a bullet wound with his thumb.
Christopher Willhemse said: “She lived life to the fullest and made me the happiest man in the world.”
Charleston Hartfield, 34, an off-duty Las Vegas police officer, was hailed as a hero for trying to evacuate the crowd before he was shot dead. “He was busy helping others,” said his friend Troy Rhett.
“They say it’s always the good ones we lose early. There’s no truer statement than that with Charles.”
John Phippen, 56, a father of five from southern California, died saving his son’s life. Mr Phippen jumped on top of his son Travis, the bullets striking him in the back.
Rhonda Lerocque, a minister’s wife from Massachusetts, died instantly after being shot in head. Her six-year-old daughter was at the concert but had been taken away by the child’s grandfather earlier in the evening.
“Jason [her husband] thought she ducked and she didn’t. She was caught in the back of the head,” Mrs Lerocque’s half-sister Jennifer Zeleneski said.
Authorities said last night that all but three of the bodies had been identified.