Jonathan Smith, you may spend the rest of his life with a bullet in the left part of the neck that will become a constant reminder of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
A 30-year-old Smith was shot when he tried to save other people in the country festival Route 91, but the guy considers himself lucky.
Repairman copiers, Smith came to Las Vegas from California, to celebrate the 43rd birthday of his brother Louis, a big fan of country music, which has been to this festival before.
They spent the weekend enjoying music, and scoring seats closer to the stage to see a performance by headliner Jason Aldine. When the shooting started, Jonathan thought it was fireworks, reports The Washington Post.
The music continued to play, but then Aldean looked at the guards and ran off the stage. And then the lights went out. Then the brothers realized what was happening and ordered his large family of 9 people to hold hands and run.
Jonathan says he thought about how to rescue your nieces — 22, 18 and 17 years — but they got separated in the crowd.
«I returned to the scene to find them, but then saw dozens of people trying to hide behind a police car on the North-Western edge of the platform. Everyone was scared and didn’t know what to do.»
And then Jonathan ran up to them and told them to follow him to the Parking lot for the disabled, away from Las Vegas Boulevard. There were several rows of vehicles, and Jonathan helped those who were with him to hide behind the cars.
A few young girls had taken refuge bad – Jonathan ran to them, to encourage them to lie on the ground, then at him and fired.
Smith says: now it’s time for him to be saved. He helped a police officer from San Diego. He tried to stop the bleeding and waving to passing cars. Many people just drove past, but then stopped some pickup there and put Jonathan and the other wounded.
Doctors diagnosed the guy has a broken collarbone, a broken rib and a bruised lung. The bullet lodged deep in the tissues, its removal may be too dangerous.
«I really didn’t want to die,» recalls Jonathan. «The officer told me that everything will be okay, just like I told the girls minutes earlier».
Later Smith found his relatives – none of them was hurt. Many people call the guy a hero, his picture from the hospital went viral.
«I don’t think I’ve done something heroic,» says Jonathan. «Just no one deserves to be deprived of life».
