Four Canadians were among dozens of people killed in Las Vegas when a gunman opened fire from a 32nd- floor hotel room on a large crowd gathered across the road at an outdoor country music festival Sunday night.
Among the dead were parents, siblings, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, neighbours and friends.
They travelled to Las Vegas to see their favourite stars, posting videos and photos to social media.
READ MORE: Las Vegas shooting: Authorities say attack was premeditated, search for motive continues
Here’s a glimpse at some of the 59 people killed in the mass shooting in Las Vegas.
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Tara Roe, 34, of Okotoks, Alta. was at Route 91 Harvest Festival with her husband when a gunman opened fire. Friends and family confirmed to Global News that Roe was one of the victims killed in the attack.
A mother of two and a model, Roe was remembered by her booking agent Amber Morgan.
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“She was always a friendly face and had a very caring spirit,” Morgan said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for her family.
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Calla Medig, who grew up in Jasper, Alta., was on her third annual trip to Vegas.
On Monday night, the Royal Canadian Legion in Jasper posted a Facebook message that confirmed Medig was one of the victims in the mass shooting.
The branch called Medig “a young, beautiful lady.”
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Jessica Klymchuk, a mother of four was an educational assistant, librarian and bus driver. The Valleyview, Alta native was in Las Vegas with her fiance.
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On Monday, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson both sent their condolences to the loved ones of Klymchuk.
A family friend has set up a GoFundMe page to help the family with expenses. The page says Klymchuk passed away with her fiancé by her side
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Jordan McIldoon, of Maple Ridge, B.C., was just days away from his 24th birthday, and close to completing a course to qualify as a heavy-duty mechanic.
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On Monday, the 23-year-old’s girlfriend Amber posted to Instagram calling him the love of her life.
“You will forever be in my heart, until the end of time. Forever and always my love,” she wrote.
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Stacee Etcheber of Novata, California, was still missing Monday night.
At the concert, her husband told her to hide, then to run, as he helped a concertgoer next to him who had been shot, said Al Etcheber, her brother-in-law.
Her husband, Vincent Etcheber, is a San Francisco police officer, and his training kicked in immediately when shots rang out, Al Etcheber said.
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He told Stacee and the couple’s three friends to protect themselves behind a nearby barrier. Then he told them to run, just before the second round of shots rang out, Al Etcheber said.
He has not heard from Stacee since, and she was not carrying an ID.
“It’s been a grueling 15 hours with no information,” Al Etcheber said.
Stacee, 50, works as a hairdresser.
“She’s just a loving wife, a great mother. She’s tough as nails and just the salt of the earth,” Al said.
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Commercial fisherman Adrian Murfitt, 35, of Anchorage, Alaska, was also among the slain, a family member said Monday.
His sister, Shannon Gothard, said the family heard from one of Murfitt’s friends who was with him when he died though they haven’t received official confirmation about his death.
Asked if the family was holding out hope that he made it after all, she said, “No. No.”
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Gothard described her brother as a man with a big hearty laugh, a former competitive hockey player who still dabbled in the game.
“His whole life was always around hockey,” she said.
After graduating from high school, he became a fisherman, picking up odd jobs in the off-season.
He had just come off an extremely successful fishing season when he made the trip to Las Vegas with some good friends, Gothard said.
Her brother “was happy to pay some things off and had made some really good money and decided to go out and celebrate and go to the concert and treat himself to something nice and fun,” she said.
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Dorene Anderson was the second person from Anchorage, Alaska, confirmed killed in the mass shooting in Las Vegas, her husband’s employer said Monday.
Anderson’s husband, John, works for the Alaska Housing Finance Corp. The CEO of that organization sent an email to employees Monday informing them that Dorene had been killed in the shooting.
Anderson described herself on her Facebook page as a stay-at-home wife and mother whose outside interest was a passion for the Alaska Aces, a minor league hockey team that recently disbanded and was sold to the parent company of the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers. She had been a member of the Aces’ “Cowbell Crew.”
Stacy Shubert, the director of governmental relations and public affairs for the corporation, told The Associated Press that the family has requested privacy.
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While the sun was still shining Sunday at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, Denise Burditus posted a photo on Facebook of herself and her husband standing in front of the stage, smiling broadly.
Later, after news of the massacre spread, a friend asked simply: “Are you two ok????”
Burditus never replied.
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The Martinsburg, West Virginia, woman was among dozens of people killed when a gunman opened fire from a hotel overlooking the festival. MetroNews, a West Virginia-based radio network, reported that Tony Burditus wrote on his Facebook page that his wife was among the victims.
“It saddens me to say that I lost my wife of 32 years, a mother of two, soon to be grandmother of five this evening in the Las Vegas shooting,” Tony Burditus wrote. “Denise passed in my arms. I LOVE YOU BABE.”
Denise Burditus’ Facebook page includes a photo of her and her husband at the same festival last year. Mandalay Bay, the hotel where the gunman opened fire, is shown in the background
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Off-duty Las Vegas police officer and youth football coach Charleston Hartfield was among those killed when a gunman opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers in Las Vegas, two of his friends said.
Hartfield, 34, was known as a selfless, respected leader who brought out the best in his players, said Stan King, whose son played football for Hartfield.
Troy Rhett, another friend of Hartfield’s through football, said he knew from social media that Hartfield was attending the Sunday concert. When he heard about the shooting, he texted him, hoping to learn Hartfield was safe. He never heard back, and Rhett said he learned through another friend Monday morning that Hartfield had died.
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Hartfield, who also went by “Chuck” or “Charles” or even “Chucky Hart,” was also a military veteran and leaves behind a son and a daughter, Rhett said.
Hartfield is also listed at author of a book titled “Memoirs of Public Servant” about his time as a Las Vegas police officer.
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Sonny Melton, a registered nurse, died in the shooting, according to The Henry County Medical Center in Paris, Tennessee, where he worked.
His wife, Dr. Heather Melton, an orthopedic surgeon who was with him when shots were fired, survived, the medical centre said.
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Heather Melton told WZTV in Nashville, Tennessee that her husband “saved my life and lost his.” She says her husband was the most kind-hearted, loving man she ever met.
Friend Jeremy Butler told the Paris (Tennessee) Post-Intelligencer that Melton was shielding Heather Melton from gunfire when he was fatally shot.
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Danae Gibbs has always been a huge fan of country music concerts, said her friend, Jennifer Draper of Cedar Park, Texas, and she was thrilled to be at the concert.
Draper wrote in an email to The Associated Press that Gibbs, 23, who recently graduated from Texas Tech University of Lubbock, was shot at the concert in Las Vegas and is recovering.
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Draper started a GoFundMe page to help Gibbs and her family with the medical expenses. On the page is a photo of Gibbs wearing a graduation cap and red Converse sneakers, jumping in the air with a huge smile in front of her university.
“Danae is a strong young woman and I firmly believe she will make it through this long road to recovery!” Draper wrote. “She is a woman of strong Faith and has hundreds of people praying for her! We love Danae and cannot wait to see her!”
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Lisa Romero, a high school secretary from Gallup, New Mexico, was killed during Sunday night’s attack in Las Vegas, the Gallup-McKinley County Schools announced Monday.
District officials confirmed to reporters on Monday that Romero, 48, died sometime after a 64-year-old man fired multiple weapons.
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“Last night during the mass shooting in Las Vegas we lost one of our staff members,” Mike Hyatt, interim superintendent for Gallup-McKinley County Public Schools, wrote to employees. “Lisa Romero, discipline secretary at Miyamura (High School), was a victim in the shooting. Our prayers go out to her family during this tragic time.”
She was an “incredible loving and sincere friend, mentor and advocate for students,” Hyatt said.
Survivors included Romero-Muniz’s husband, children and grandchildren, Hyatt said. Officials announced a candlelight vigil in honour of Romero-Muniz set for Monday night.
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Rachael Parker, a police records technician, was shot and ultimately died in the hospital, the Manhattan Beach Police Department said.
Parker was among four department employees who were attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival while off-duty. Another suffered minor injuries.
“She was employed with the Manhattan Beach Police Department for 10 years and will be greatly missed,” the department said in a statement.
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Erick Silva, 22, of Las Vegas, was working as a security guard at the music festival when he was shot in the head, his uncle, Rob Morgan, told the Washington Post.
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Sandy Casey, a middle school special education teacher living in Redondo Beach, California, was killed in Sunday night’s attack, the school district and a relative said.
“This is unbelievably tragic and sad,” Mike Matthews, superintendent of the Manhattan Beach School District, wrote in a Monday morning letter to the district. “This loss is impacting many of our staff members deeply.”
Casey, 35, is an alumna of the College of St. Joseph in Rutland, Vermont, and Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, said Linda O’Leary, a cousin of Casey’s mother who is acting as a family spokeswoman.
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Casey was at the Las Vegas concert with her fiance and a friend, who were not injured, O’Leary said. Most of Casey’s extended family lives in Vermont, she said.
“They’re receiving a lot of support and love, the best you can do with an unbelievable tragedy,” she said.
The family is discussing setting up a scholarship in Casey’s name.
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Kristin Babik, a law student at the University of Florida in Las Vegas for an internship at the Clark County district attorney’s office, suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung in the shooting, the school said.
“Kristin is on bed rest for now,” an email from the law school’s dean said. “We look forward to welcoming her back to Gainesville as soon as she recovers.”
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Angie Gomez was an alumnus of a high school in Riverside, California, according to the Southern California News Group. “Riverside Polytechnic High School PTSA confirmed 2015 alumnus, Angie Gomez, was killed in the Las Vegas shooting,” reporter Beatriz Valenzuela wrote on Twitter.
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Quinton Joe Robbins, 20, died early Monday morning from his gunshot wounds, according to a gofundme post from his family.
Robbins worked for the city of Henderson, Nevada and loved the outdoors, including fishing and snowboarding, according to his Facebook page.
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His sister, Skylar Robbins, wrote a tribute to him and posted it to Twitter late Monday night. “My best friend was taken from me today,” she wrote. “You were always there to give me advice when I needed it and it was always the best advice.”
Robbins’ cousin Felicia Walker wrote in a post on the family’s gofundme page that he “had this contagious laugh and a wonderful smile that he was always quick to give.”
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Susan Smith, 53, a resident of Simi Valley, California, near Los Angeles, had worked for the local school district since 2001 as the office manager at Vista Elementary School.
“Susan was wonderful with the kids and the staff and was an integral part of the school community here,” said Jake Finch, the public information officer for the district. “She was the hub of everything that happened at the school. If a kid is sick, she’s the one calling the parents and no matter how chaotic things got here, she was always smiling.”
Finch said the school district learned about Smith’s death from friends who had been with her at the music festival. She said when teachers and other staff members in the district and at the school arrived early Monday morning, most of them had not yet heard that Smith was among those who were killed.
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She said counsellors were dispatched to the school to talk to both staff members and students and when students were told, they took part in activities such as writing letters and making cards for Smith.
“It doesn’t sound like much but it gives kids something to latch on to, to make sure they felt like they were able to help in some way,” she said.
She said Smith was married with two adult children, adding that Smith’s love for country music was well-known.
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Brennan Stewart, 30, of Las Vegas, was an aspiring musician, his girlfriend, Gia Iantuono, wrote on a Facebook message to the Washington Post. He worked for his father’s construction business, said Iantuono, who was wounded in the rampage. She called Stewart “a light that came into my life when I needed one.”
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Karessa Royce, a 22-year-old Las Vegas local, was rushed to an ambulance by a friend after she was shot in the shoulder, said Marissa Nino, her cousin who is acting as a family spokesperson.
Royce, a student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is in the intensive care unit following surgery for a collapsed lung. She is expected to survive, Nino said. Royce had no identification on her at the concert, so it took the family some time to locate her, Nino said.
Royce is one of five children and is studying hospitality.
Royce’s friend “definitely saved her life,” Nino said. Royce cannot speak, but her friend shared what happened with the family and has been in the hospital by Royce’s side since, Rios said.
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Kurt Von Tillow, 55, of Cameron Park, California was at the concert with several family members, Sacramento television station KCRA reported. His sister and niece were wounded in the shooting, but are expected to recover, the station said. His wife, daughter, and son-in-law were not injured. His brother-in-law, Mark Carson, said Von Tillow “was the most patriotic person you’ve ever met. … Guarantee you, he was covered in red, white and blue, with a Coors Light in his hand, smiling with his family and listening to some music.”
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Rachael Parker, a police records technician, was shot and ultimately died in the hospital, the Manhattan Beach Police Department said.
Parker was among four department employees who were attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival while off-duty. Another suffered minor injuries.
“She was employed with the Manhattan Beach Police Department for 10 years and will be greatly missed,” the department said in a statement.
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Neysa Tonks, of LasVegas, who worked at Technologent, an Irvine, California-based technology company, was also among the victims, the Los Angeles Times said. She was the mother of three boys, according to a GoFundMe campaign created by Technologent. “Neysa brought joy, happiness, fun and laughter to so many of us. The senseless tragedy Las lass=”highlight”>Vegas Sunday has unnessarily (sic) taken her from our community,” the GoFundMe page said.
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Bobby Parks’ wife was planning to throw him a 40th birthday party next week before Jenny Parks was killed at the concert, friend Jessica Maddin said.
The couple were high school sweethearts and they have two children.
Jenny Parks was a kindergarten teacher for the Lancaster School District in California.
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Maddin met Parks while working at 24 Hour Fitness.
Later Parks would help Maddin who started a group, Jessica’s Hope Project, that provides care packages to troops.
Maddin now is trying to raise funds for her friend, Bobby Parks, on a GoFundMe page. Bobby Parks was shot in the arm and hand and is awaiting surgery, Maddin said.
“It breaks my heart,” Maddin said. “People go to concerts to have a good time, connect with others and escape the tragedies of this world.”
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Rhonda LeRocque, of Tewksbury, Massachusetts, was a wife and mother, devout Jehovah’s Witness and worked for a Cambridge design firm, the Boston Globe reported. LeRocque attended the concert with her husband, Jason and their 7-year-old daughter, who were not injured, the newspaper said. “Rhonda would do everything to be the best mom and the best wife she could be,” LeRocque’s sister, Jennifer Zelenski, told the paper.
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Jennifer Topaz Irvine was a family law attorney based in San Diego, according to CBS News. A co-worker and friend identified Irvine as a victim to a CBS correspondent.
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Dana Gardner was an employee for California’s San Bernardino County for 26 years and most recently worked as a deputy recorder, the San Bernardino Sun reported.
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Thomas Day Jr. was a big country music fan so there was no doubt when he heard about the Route 91 Harvest he would go to Las Vegas. And he’d take his whole family with him.
“He was just a fun loving boy, a great family man who loved to spend time with his family,” said Thomas Day Sr. who spoke on the phone, surrounded by his son’s four grown children at his Las Vegas area home. “He is the one who got them all together.”
Day, 54, was one of 59 people who shot to death by a man who sprayed the Sunday night concert with bullets from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
Day’s father said he was at home when he received a frantic telephone call from his grandson and one of his granddaughters. “They were standing right there and they said he and another young man there both took a bullet in the head,” said the 75-year-old Day. “Everybody started running for cover and the guy kept shooting.”
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Day said none of his grandchildren were struck by bullets, and he said that a friend of his son rushed him to a hospital but there was nothing doctors could do.
“His friend said he was still breathing when he got there, the hospital said he wasn’t,” said Day. “But who knows.”
Day said he moved to the Las Vegas area about three years ago after he raised his family in Corona, California, a community just outside Riverside and about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles. A builder, he raised his son in his business and watched as his son became a successful and respected builder in his own right.
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“He was very well-liked in the Riverside area,” his father said.
Struggling to speak about his son, Day mentioned how he “played softball and everything’ and how he loved his three daughters and son and his two grandchildren and how Day’s children remained close to their father and jumped at the chance to drive to Las Vegas to attend a country music show.
“We always had fun together,” he said.
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Hannah Ahlers, a 35-year-old mother of three from Murrieta, California, was shot in the head and died, ABC News reported.
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Victor Link, 55, of Aliso Viejo, California, was also killed in the shooting, 23ABC News reported, citing family.
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Carrie Barnette, 34, of Riverside, California, worked at Disney California Adventure Park as part of the culinary team, the Orange County Register reported. “A senseless, horrific, act, and a terrible loss for so many. We mourn a wonderful member of the Disney family: Carrie Barnette. Tragic,” Robert Iger, chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company, said on Twitter.
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Christopher Roybal, 28, was described as jovial and fun-loving, despite experiencing intense combat during four tours in the Middle East.
“He is a guy that could always put a smile on your face … after all the stuff he had been through,” said David Harman, who founded a company that owns the Colorado gym where Roybal worked.
Roybal, 28, worked at Crunch Fitness in Corona and Riverside, California, before he moved at the beginning of the year to help open franchises in Colorado Springs.
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“As far as responsibility and discipline and work ethic, there wasn’t any question about him coming on board with us,” said Harman, who has known Roybal for about 4 1/2 years. “He was a good hard worker, a grinder.”
“He was the guy who if your car broke down in the middle of the night, you could call him and he would come help you,” Harman added. “He is that guy who would find solutions, not report on problems.”
Harman said Roybal served in Afghanistan and was coping with the loss of a friend who was killed by an improvised explosive device. Roybal adopted his friend’s bomb-sniffing dog, Bella, but was devastated when she died of old age.
“That dog saved his life quite a few times,” Harman said.
Roybal mentioned the dog in a July 18 Facebook post that also included a lengthy description of his experience getting shot at in combat.
He ends the post: “What’s it like to be shot at? It’s a nightmare no amount of drugs, no amount of therapy and no amount of drunk talks with your war veteran buddies will ever be able to escape. Cheers boys.”
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Cameron Robinson, 28, was a legal records specialist with the city of Las Vegas who was fatally shot in the neck while attending the music festival with his boyfriend, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. He lived near St. George, Utah and commuted to Las Vegas for work, his sister, Meghan Ervin, told the newspaper.
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Jack Beaton, of Bakersfield, California, died while saving his wife during the shooting, 23ABC News reported. Beaton worked as a grill master at a barbecue restaurant, a statement from the restaurant to the TV station said. Beaton’s son confirmed his death to the station.
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Steve Berger, a native of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, who lived in Minnesota, had been celebrating his 44th birthday with a group of six friends in Las Vegas over the weekend, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Berger’s friends called his parents early Monday and said he was shot, and his family received confirmation on Tuesday, the newspaper said. “While trying to resuscitate him, (the group) was forced to evacuate,” Berger’s sister, Christine Moore, told the paper. Moore said her brother, a father of three who worked as a financial adviser, was fun- loving and hardworking, the paper said.
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John Phippen, of Santa Clarita, California, was a father of five, grandfather of one and owned a remodeling and repair company, KHTS AM 1220 radio station reported. He attended the concert with his son Travis, who was shot in the arm, the station said. “If you didn’t know John you surely missed out. He had a heart that was larger than life and a personality to match,” a GoFundMe page said. “Even if you were someone he had never met before but were in need, he was there for you.”
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A one-time high school cheerleader who loved country music, Bailey Schweitzer of Bakersfield, California, went to the Route 91 Harvest Festival to see some of her favourite acts.
A day after the 20-year-old’s death, co-workers at the software company where she worked held a vigil. Friends and colleagues gazed at white candles lit in her memory Monday night.
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“No one could possibly have a bad day when Bailey was around,” said a statement by Fred Brakeman, chief executive officer of Infinity Communications and Consulting, Inc., where Schweitzer was a receptionist.
“If you have ever called or visited our office, she was the perky one that helped direct you to the staff member you needed,” he said.
Schweitzer graduated in 2015 from Centennial High School, where she was a member of the cheerleading squad. On social media she often posted photos from Bakersfield Speedway, a dirt auto-racing track that her family owns.
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Kelsey Meadows, 27, was a 2007 graduate of and substitute teacher for California’s Taft Union High School District, Superintendent Blanca Cavazos said. Meadows earned a bachelor’s degree from Fresno State university and had served as a regular substitute since 2012, Cavazos said. “Kelsey was smart, compassionate and kind,” Taft Union High School principal Mary Alice Finn said. “Words cannot adequately capture the sorrow felt by her students, colleagues and friends.” Meadows lived in Kern County, California, according to 23ABC News in Bakersfield.
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Police in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, have confirmed that the family of local wrestling coach Bill Wolfe says he was one of the 59 people killed in the Las Vegas shootings.
The police chief’s office referred The Associated Press Tuesday to a post on the Shippensburg Greyhound Wrestling Facebook page.
“It is with the most of broken hearts, the families of Bill Wolfe Jr. and his wife Robyn share that Bill has been confirmed to be among the deceased as a result of the mass attack in Las Vegas,” read a statement posted Tuesday morning. “Please continue to hold our entire family as well as those affected across the nation in your unending prayers.”
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The police department says Wolfe’s family has asked for privacy.
Wolfe initially was listed as missing Monday until his death later was confirmed.
Shippensburg is southwest of Harrisburg. Members of the wrestling team are in elementary through high school. Wolfe was the team’s head elementary coach.
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Melissa Ramirez, 26, grew up in California’s Antelope Valley, her cousin, Fabiola Farnetti, told the New York Times. She attended California State University at Bakersfield, majored in business and worked for a car insurance company. Ramirez was the daughter of Mexican immigrants who became U.S. citizens, the newspaper said.
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A former New York Yankee playing baseball in Japan is cutting his season short because his cousin was killed in the mass shooting in Las Vegas.
Japanese media report that Brandon Laird will leave for the U.S. on Wednesday.
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Public broadcaster NHK says Laird’s 22-year-old cousin Christiana Duarte was one of the 59 victims.
Laird is a third baseman with Japan’s Nippon Ham Fighters. He was a contender for this year’s home run title with 32 home runs, three behind leader Alfredo Despaigne of the SoftBank Hawks.
He also played for the Houston Astros before coming to Japan in 2015.
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Michelle Vo, 32, of Los Angeles, was attending her first country music concert, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Vo attended high school in San Jose and graduated in 2007 from the University of California, Davis with a communications degree, the school said in a statement. She worked for New York Life Insurance Co in its Glendale, California, office where, “she was recognized for her ambition and work ethic,” university chancellor Gary May said.
— With files from Global News and Reuters
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