Drawn back to killing scene
‘‘There was a bunch of police with their big guns and shields and helmets.’’ Caitlin Tomlinson
A group of Kiwis on holiday in Las Vegas during America’s deadliest mass shooting avoided the bullets but were quickly caught up in the panic and chaos that ensued.
Stratford-born Caitlin Tomlinson and husband Daniel, of Marton, had been in Las Vegas with Daniel’s brother Luke and his wife Samantha, from Christchurch, for a week before the tragedy.
When gunman Stephen Paddock began shooting hundreds of bullets into thousands of country music fans the four Kiwis were 10 kilometres away at a pharmacy and knew next to nothing about the incident.
‘‘We heard some people behind us saying there had been a shooting,’’ Caitlin said.
She said they overheard the shooting occurred at MGM Grand Las Vegas – a 100 metre walk around the block from where they were staying at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino.
At that stage the group had no idea of the scale of the shooting and decided to return to their hotel where they would be safe and hailed an Uber taxi service to get them there.
‘‘It took us ages and we could see people running,’’ Cailtin said.
‘‘Police told the Uber driver to ‘get out of here’ so we got out. But they were telling people close by to put their hands up and they told us to ‘move that way’.
‘‘They were quite aggressive but they have to be in that situation.’’
‘‘And there was a bunch of police with their big guns and shields and helmets, and they pointed at us to run the other way.’’
Not knowing where to go they ran around their hotel trying to find a way in. They eventually did find a door that wasn’t locked and walked into the casino which was almost completely empty.
‘‘It was really weird and unexpected to see a casino completely cleared out,’’ Caitlin said. Caitlin said an employee escorted them to ‘‘a secret entrance’’ – a hidden elevator to get to their hotel room.
It was only once they were in their room that they learned the shooting was the worst in America’s history. The death toll would rise all night before reaching 59 dead and 500 wounded after Paddock fired hundreds of rounds from the 32nd floor of the Mandaly Bay hotel into a country music festival across the road.
Caitlin said she and and her group were fortunate to have avoided the main strip that night.
‘‘He was only a few hotels away,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s unexpected – it’s not something we would face in New Zealand. It really puts things into perspective how the world is.’’
The day after the shooting the group decided to get out of the city and hired another Uber to take them to get a rental car.
Uber drivers had received warnings to avoid the area, Caitlin said, but one driver decided to stay.
‘‘He had been up for 18 hours helping people get home,’’ she said.
‘‘He said he picked up someone that was hit by a car after everyone was rushing to get away from the shooting.’’
The group spent the day away but have since returned to Las Vegas for two more nights before departing for Mexico.
‘‘We were originally going to go to Mexico City but because of the earthquake, we decided to go to Vegas,’’ Caitlin said.
‘‘But we’re OK and we’re safe.’’