LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD!
Music hero falls for beauty he saved in Sin City massacre
FROM the horror, blood and death of the biggest mass shooting in U.S. history, love has blossomed between Nicole Ruffino and Bryan Hopkins, the hero who saved her life.
Guitarist Bryan, 49, and radiology coordinator Nicole, 25, are now joined forever — a year after the bloodbath at the Route 91 Harvest country music fest in Las Vegas left 58 dead and 851 people injured.
“Out of the ashes of this horrific shooting came something positive,” says a source close to the lovebirds, who notes their inspirational tale “goes a long way to help heal some of the wounds” left by the horror.
Bryan, frontman for the Elvis Monroe band, and Nicole were strangers among the 22,000 fans at the open-air concert at the Las Vegas Village when evil struck.
Suddenly, for ten terrifying minutes shortly after 10 p.m. on Oct. 1, 2017, a rain of bullets poured down from room 134 on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel overlooking the concert. Crazed gunman Stephen Paddock, 64, fired more than 1,100 shots into the helpless crowd.
In the midst of the panic, deadly rain of lead and fleeing spectators, Bryan led Nicole and her friend Nicole Yorba to safety inside a large refrigerator, where several others were hiding.
Later, the former baseball player, who ironically was wearing a “Captain America” T-shirt, led the terrified group over a fence to safety. Meanwhile, monster Paddock blew his brains out just as cops rushed inside his room.
Bryan was hailed a hero and began wooing Ruffino. At first, she resisted, even though she admitted feeling “insane chemistry” with the hunk.
After Christmas, Bryan almost gave up on winning Nicole’s heart. She told him she felt his touring schedule meant long separations that would make building a relationship impossible.
But in February, Nicole gave in to her powerful attraction after missing Bryan.
Since then the couple have been inseparable and now take long, romantic walks near their Vegas house.
“It’s wonderful that love has blossomed out of the blood and terror of the massacre,” says a source.