MOURN THEM
THEY WERE military veterans and kindergarten teachers. Sons. Brothers. Sisters. Mothers. They were enjoying the Route 91 Harvest Festival when bullets rained down — a shooting that killed at least 58 people.
Amid the tragedy, tens of thousands have chipped in more than $8.2 million to a GoFundMe page started Monday by Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak for the victims.
The fund-raiser’s goal was raised from $3.5 million to $10 million.
Separately, Wayne Newton gave $100,000, and MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren vowed $3 million. The company owns the Mandalay Bay.
These are the victims of the Las Vegas shooting who have been identified: Hartfield, 34, was a Las Vegas police officer who previously served in the military.
He’d posted a photo of the concert just hours before he was fatally shot.
A relative told the Daily News that Hartfield had two young children, and friends said he coached a youth football team. Melton, 29, was a registered nurse who lived in western Tennessee. He was at the country music concert with his wife, Heather, to celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary.
“He saved my life. He grabbed me and started running when I felt him get shot in the back,” his wife told Fox affiliate KVVU. “I want everyone to know what a kindhearted, loving man he was, but at this point, I can barely breathe.” Parker, 33, was a 10-year veteran of the Manhattan Beach Police Department in California, where she was a records technician. Two other civilian employees and an officer, who was wounded, were with her.
“She was close to a lot of people,” Manhattan Beach Police Capt. Tim Hageman told The News. “She would laugh, and you knew it was Rachael laughing, even if you couldn’t see her.” Irvine, a 42-year-old attorney from Las Vegas, was “holding hands with her girlfriends, singing and dancing to country music when she was shot in the head,” her friend, Kyle Kraska, wrote on Facebook.
Kraska, sports director for CBS News 8, described her as “a shining light that will not be extinguished by a gutless coward with a gun.”