Northern Irish tourists ran for their lives in Las Vegas shooting

Northern Ireland tourists have told how they feared for their lives after a lone gunmen opened up fire on the Las Vegas strip.
Belfast woman Frances McCullough with her friend Gary Muir enjoying a night out in Las Vegas prior to Sundays gun attackBelfast woman Frances McCullough with her friend Gary Muir enjoying a night out in Las Vegas prior to Sundays gun attack
Belfast woman Frances McCullough with her friend Gary Muir enjoying a night out in Las Vegas prior to Sundays gun attack

A Belfast woman who is in Las Vegas on holidays told how she phoned her sister back home in tears when she realised her life was in danger.

Frances McCullough, 27, had just left her hotel on Sunday night with her friend Gary Muir, 25, when the lone gunman starting firing into the crowd from the 32nd floor of the Mandelay Bay hotel.

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Speaking to the News Letter she said: “We heard a noise that we thought was fireworks.

A wounded person is walked in on a wheelbarrow as Las Vegas police respond after the incident in Las VegasA wounded person is walked in on a wheelbarrow as Las Vegas police respond after the incident in Las Vegas
A wounded person is walked in on a wheelbarrow as Las Vegas police respond after the incident in Las Vegas

“As soon as we heard people on the strip shouting that there was a shooter the first thing I did was run.

“My friend Gary had me by the hand so we didn’t get separated. It was chaos.

“I called my sister Mairead (in Belfast) and started crying to her.

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“I was so scared and didn’t know what was going to happen to us.”

A wounded person is walked in on a wheelbarrow as Las Vegas police respond after the incident in Las VegasA wounded person is walked in on a wheelbarrow as Las Vegas police respond after the incident in Las Vegas
A wounded person is walked in on a wheelbarrow as Las Vegas police respond after the incident in Las Vegas

Ms McCullough said the pair were put in lockdown in a bunker room at another hotel.

Their own hotel – the Excalibur – was beside the Mandalay Bay where the gunman 64-year-old Stephen Paddock had been located and was later shot dead.

The Belfast woman spoke to the News Letter having got back to her own hotel.

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She said: “Right now in Vegas there is no one on the strip. It is like a ghost town. Everything is very quiet.

“Police are still all on the roads and at the hotels surrounding the Mandalay Bay including our hotel.

“I feel safer now that I am in my own hotel room with police at every exit and entrance of the hotel however I feel on edge and very cautious still.

“Gary doesn’t want to leave the hotel at all now until we get home on Thursday.”

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Mr Muir, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Saturday, is an auxillary nurse at the Royal Victoria Hospital.

Ms McCullough – a care assistant at Belfast Health and Social Care Trust – told how they are desperate to get home.

She said: “We’ve been here since last Monday but all we want to do now is get home.

“Gary’s sister was trying to get us a flight booked as soon as possible and my Daddy has offered to pay to get us home early, but at the minute the airports are closed.

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“I feel very anxious and after having so much messages love and support from family and friends back home I just want to see them all.”

Meanwhile Omagh woman Kathy Ewing and her three friends were at the concert when the gunfire began.

She tweeted Downtown Country to say it was a “terrifying” experience, when asked about her safety she replied: “me + 3 others from home ran from the concert and are safe”

The BBC reported how a pair of newly-weds from Killyleagh hid behind a stall when the shooting began.

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Stuart McCormick and his wife Zara were at the concert and believed that the shooting was coming from ground level.

Having established the shots were coming from the Mandalay Bay hotel the married couple ran from the stall to the opposite side of the venue and took cover behind vehicles.

Responding to the massacre in Las Vegas, Ulster Unionist Party Leader Robin Swann said: “The events which have unfolded overnight in Las Vegas are truly horrific. The city has always afforded a warm welcome to visitors from Northern Ireland and farther afield.

“It scarcely believable that someone so filled with evil could inflict such heartache and pain on innocent people out enjoying themselves at a music festival.”

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He added: “The scale of the toll of dead and injured is hard to comprehend, with more than 50 dead and 400 taken to hospital.

“The families of the victims are in our thoughts and prayers and we wish a speedy recovery to those so horribly injured and acknowledge the bravery and commitment of the first responders.”

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