Man fears for folks in Las Vegas

"It was quite a scary, sad time to be there in a place that is usually so full of energy." Jamie Blackley

When the news broke about the mass shooting in Las Vegas, a shiver shot down the spine of one Palmerston North man.

Jamie Blackley’s parents, Steven and Penny, were on holiday in the US city on Sunday when 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire into a crowd of people at a country music festival.

His attack, one of the worst mass shootings in modern US history, left 59 people dead and hundreds more injured, either in the rain of bullets or trampled in the panicked rush for cover.

It was an anxious and frightening wait for Blackley, 25, as he scrambled to get in touch with his parents. ‘‘That kind of stuff sends shivers down your spine. To hear there had been some crazy man with a gun was pretty scary.’’

He called his parents as soon as he heard the news but they did not immediately pick up. ‘‘When they didn’t pick up the first couple of phone calls, I was a bit worried.’’

It took about six phone calls before his parents finally answered. Upon speaking to them, he was relieved to discover they did not even realise what had happened as they had been asleep in bed. On the day after the attack, Blackley’s father went out for a walk in the city.

The mood on the streets was, unsurprisingly, a sombre one. ‘‘It was quite a scary, sad time to be there in a place that is usually so full of energy.’’ His parents flew to Los Angeles the next day.