As B.C. residents arrived at Vancouver International Airport from Las Vegas on Monday, they considered themselves lucky to not be counted among the 59 killed or the over 500 people injured in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
But many of those who witnessed the violence on Sunday night still didn’t escape completely unscathed.
WATCH: B.C. residents returning from Las Vegas after shooting
“As I was running out, something hit me in the arm,” Campbell River native Kyle Welsh said. “A bullet must have bounced off the ground and just barely nicked my arm. I pulled bits of bullet out of me.
“I came back to our hotel and my knees were just red with blood, just from crawling around on the ground.”
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Welsh had traveled to Vegas with two best friends to attend the outdoor country music concert that was targeted by a lone gunman, who fired hundreds of rounds from a hotel room at the Mandalay Bay resort across the street.
At least 59 people were killed before the gunman, 64-year-old Stephen Craig Paddock, fatally shot himself. Among those killed were a 23-year-old Maple Ridge man and two women from Alberta.
Canadian tourists were also among the injured, including 21-year-old Sheldon Mack, the son of former B.C. news anchor Hudson Mack.
Welsh’s friend Cole Rennie said the three of them were near at least one person who was struck by a bullet.
“You could hear [bullets] ricocheting off the stage. It was crazy.”
While some were caught in the middle of the chaos, others found themselves out of the line of fire just through sheer luck.
“My girlfriend and I were going to the washrooms, and all of a sudden we heard, pow-pow-pow, pow-pow-pow,” Denise Hendry said through tears in the airport lobby.
Survivors described an exhausting scramble for safety as the crowd of over 22,000 concertgoers rushed to escape the hail of bullets.
“I saw people falling, and you knew they were hit,” Ryan Bedrosian said. “That was the craziest part, was the running for your life.
As these and other travelers made their way to the loved ones awaiting their return, they counted their blessings that they arrived home safe.
“It feels nice to be back,” Welsh said. “I’ve never been happier to be in Canada right now.”
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