Family, friends mourn, honor loved ones killed in Las Vegas shooting

They were schoolteachers and youth football coaches, real estate agents and local business owners.

They were parents, siblings, husbands, wives, neighbors and friends.

They traveled to Las Vegas to see their favorite stars, posting videos and photos to social media.

At least 59 of them never made it home after a gunman opened fire from the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas hotel onto a crowd of more than 22,000 below at a country music festival.

Details emerged Monday about the lives of those who died, as well as countless more who were injured. Friends waited for text messages that never came, families learned the worst from hospitals and local authorities. In a few cases, families still frantically searched Monday night for news. Many have launched fundraising campaigns for the children and families left behind, while others have vowed to start scholarship funds in their loved ones' names.

Nevada outdoorsman: 'the kid was loved by everyone'

Quinton Robbins was the big brother who coached his little brother's flag football team, the prom king who was nice to everyone regardless of their high school social standing, an outdoorsman who loved to fish and boat around the lake.

“The kid was loved by everyone,” said his uncle, Mike Wells. “He was popular in high school, but would walk up to the kid who wasn't so popular and befriend him and make him feel good.”

Robbins, 20, was among the people killed Sunday in Las Vegas. He died moments after a bullet struck his chest and exited through his lower back.

Robbins was up on his knees, looking for a spot to take his girlfriend for shelter, when he was hit, said Wells, recounting Robbins' girlfriend's account of the terrifying moments.

“I think I got shot,” Robbins looked at her and said before collapsing.

“He died probably within seconds after the bullet hit him,” Wells said.

Robbins leaves behind a younger brother and sister, who adored him, as well as his parents, Wells said. His parents sat beside Robbins, who had already died, until about 5 or 6 in the morning, Wells said, before rushing home to make sure they could tell his 11-year-old brother the news themselves.

Robbins was an active member of the Mormon Church and had hoped to go on a mission before he was diagnosed with diabetes several years ago, Wells said. He worked for the athletic department in his home city of Henderson, Nevada.

“The positive impact he had on everyone was huge,” Wells said.

Mother of two was 'beautiful soul'

Tara Roe Smith, 34, of Alberta, Canada, went to Las Vegas with her husband Zach for a weekend getaway.

Her aunt, Val Rodgers, said Smith was among those who died in the music festival shooting in Las Vegas.

“She was a beautiful soul. She was a wonderful mother and our family is going to miss her dearly,” Rodgers said Tuesday.

Smith, the mother of two young boys, lived in Okotoks.

Two other women from Alberta - Calla Medig and Jessica Klymchuk of Valleyview - also died.

Medig, who grew up in Jasper, had taken time off from her job at Moxie's restaurant in west Edmonton to attend the Route 91 Music Festival in Las Vegas, said her boss, Scott Collingwood.

“This had started to become an annual thing for her. I believe it was her third trip,” Collingwood said.

When news broke about the shooting Sunday, Collingwood said he immediately called Medig, It went right to voice mail, and she didn't answer texts or Facebook messages.

“She was kind of a rock and, as of Thursday, she would have been our newest manager,” Collingwood said. “A lot of us around here have super heavy hearts and we already miss her.”

Jordan McIldoon, 23, from Maple Ridge, B.C., was also killed.

A relative said McIldoon would have turned 24 on Friday and was a month shy of completing a course to qualify as a heavy-duty mechanic.

Mother-daughter concert date ends in tragedy

Heather Warino Alvarado made the three-hour drive from her southern Utah home to Las Vegas to get away for the weekend and take her daughter to a country music festival.

Her daughter was unharmed in the Sunday night shooting, but the 35-year-old Warino Alvarado was one of at least 59 people killed when a gunman opened fire at the concertgoers.

Friends and family received confirmation she had died Monday night from Las Vegas police, according to a news release Tuesday from the Cedar City Fire Department, where her husband was a firefighter.

Warino Alvarado ran an in-home day care center in Cedar City, Utah, and was a devoted wife and mother of three children who was always willing to help others, said longtime friend Megan Jackson Gadd.

“She has made huge impacts on those around her with even the smallest gestures,” Jackson Gadd said in a Facebook messenger conversation. “A person like her will never be replaced or forgotten and will be missed dearly every day for the rest of our lives.”

The daughter, whose age and identity is being kept private to protect her privacy, is physically OK, she said.

California woman remembered as 'the perky one'

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 favorite 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.

“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.

'Everybody started running for cover and the guy kept shooting'

Thomas Day Jr. was a big country music fan, so there was no doubt he'd go to the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas, and that he'd take his whole family with him.

Day, 54, of Corona, California, was one of 59 people killed by a gunman who sprayed the concert with bullets from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

“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.

The elder Day, who lives near Las Vegas, said he was at home Sunday night when he received a frantic telephone call from his grandson and a granddaughter.

“They were standing right there and they said he and another young man there both took a bullet in the head,” said Day, 75. “Everybody started running for cover and the guy kept shooting.”

Day said none of his grandchildren were struck by bullets, but his son was. A friend rushed Thomas Day Jr. to a hospital but there was nothing doctors could do.

Struggling to speak, Day said his son loved his three daughters and son and his two grandchildren. The whole group jumped at the chance to drive to Las Vegas for the show.

“We always had fun together,” he said.

A grueling search for a missing woman, and then the worst

Stacee Etcheber of Novato, California, was listed as missing for hours before her family found got the worst possible news: The mother of two was dead.

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.

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 Monday. On Tuesday morning, he posted on Facebook that the worst fears had been realized - she was dead.

Stacee, 50, worked as a hairdresser. Al Etcheber called her a loving wife and great mother who was “tough as nails and just the salt of the earth.”

'I can hear her laugh ... Right now'

Neysa Tonks' employer remembered her as a “great mother, colleague and friend.”

The 46-year-old mother of three boys worked for the Las Vegas office of Technologent Inc., which offers technology solutions to companies. She was killed in the shooting rampage at the concert.

“Neysa has brought so much joy, fun and laughter to Technologent - she will be greatly missed by all!” said a statement posted by the California-based company.

The company has set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds to help her family.

Tonks grew up in Utah. Her brother, AJ Yerage, told the CBS affiliate in Salt Lake City that he felt “lucky” that Tonks was a part of his life and that she loved making jokes.

“I can hear her laugh, her voice in my head and my heart right now,” Yerage told KUTV.

Wrestling coach slain, team helping raise money for survivors

Members of the Shippensburg Greyhound Wrestling team in southern Pennsylvania are raising money to help the family of coach Bill Wolfe, who is among the dead in Las Vegas.

A GoFundMe page established to accept donations for Wolfe's family quickly exceeded its goal of $10,000 after being shared hundreds of times on social media, and team booster club said it also was accepting checks to help with family with unexpected expenses.

Wolfe initially was listed as missing Monday until his death later was confirmed.

As an engineer, Wolfe spent several years working on major projects for a central Pennsylvania engineering firm. There, a colleague remembered him as being personable, easy to work with and a devoted Christian. Company owner Carl Bert said Wolfe was a close friend and “a class act in every way.”

The Chambersburg Public Opinion reported that Wolfe and his wife Robyn were celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary in Las Vegas.

'Cheerful young lady with a warm heart'

Angela “Angie” Gomez died in the Las Vegas shooting, according to a statement from the Riverside Unified School District in California.

Gomez graduated from Riverside Poly High School in 2015, where she was a cheerleader. School staff remembered her as a “fun-loving young lady with a great sense of humor.”

Gomez participated in the Riverside Children's Theater and was involved in choir. The school district said Gomez was a hard worker who “always challenged herself academically.”

Friend Lupe Avila wrote in a tribute to Gomez online that she was a “cheerful young lady with a warm heart and loving spirit.”

Elementary students remember 'the hub' of their school

Vista Fundamental Elementary in Simi Valley, California, is large as schools go with 681 kindergartners through sixth graders and receptionist Susan Smith was in the center of it all.

“She's the hub,” Simi Valley Unified School District spokeswoman Jake Finch told The Associated Press Tuesday. “She supported the principal, taking care of the many things that happen in the school. She was patient. She was kind, especially with the kids. Even when it was chaotic she would smile.”

Smith also was very patriotic, Finch added.

“Today (Tuesday) everyone at the school is wearing red, white and blue in her honor,” Finch said.

Smith, 53, of Simi Valley, was office manager at Vista Elementary for the past three years. She had been with the district since 2001.

“She was a big country music fan,” said Finch, who added that Smith was with friends at the Las Vegas concert. Those friends contacted Smith's family after the shooting.

The mother of a Massachusetts woman killed in a shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas says the victim was devoted to her family and had a strong faith.

'Beautiful life' cute short in Las Vegas

Priscilla Champagne on Tuesday described 42-year-old Rhonda LeRocque to reporters as a kindhearted woman with a “beautiful life.”

LeRocque had attended the concert Sunday with her husband and their 6-year-old daughter. LeRocque's daughter was taken back to their hotel before the shooting occurred.

Champagne says LeRocque's husband, Jason, was next to her when she fell. He had thought she was ducking but she did not get up.

Champagne says LeRocque loved cooking, music and her family. She worked at the Cambridge, Massachusetts, office of the design company IDEO.

LeRocque was from Tewksbury, a town located about 24 miles northwest of Boston.

Japanese baseball player gets news of cousin killed in Las Vegas

A former New York Yankee playing baseball in Japan is cutting his season short because cousin Christiana Duarte was killed in the mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Japanese media report that Brandon Laird is related to Duarte, 22, of Torrance, California. Friends on social media described her as a recent graduate of the University of Arizona.

Laird will leave for the United States on Wednesday.

Laird is a third baseman with Japan's Nippon Ham Fighters. He also played for the Houston Astros before coming to Japan in 2015.

Veteran remembered as jovial, hard working

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.

“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 said. “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.

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.”

Off-duty officer coached kids, was respected leader

Off-duty Las Vegas police officer and youth football coach Charleston Hartfield was among those killed, 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.

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.

High school sweethearts: one survives, one dies

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.

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.”

Alaska woman was local hockey fan

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.

Alaska fisherman had a hearty laugh

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.”

Gothard described her brother as a man with a hearty laugh and 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 offseason.

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.

Friend helped get wounded college student to ambulance

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.

West Virginia woman died in husband's arms

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.

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.

Kindhearted nurse protected wife

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 center said.

Heather Melton told WZTV in Nashville, Tennessee that her husband “saved my life and lost his.” She says her husband was the most kindhearted, 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.

'Woman of strong faith' is recovering

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.

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!”

Real estate agent was shot repeatedly but survived

Real estate agent and father of three older children Rob McIntosh, 52, of North Pole, Alaska, was near the front of the stage with friends when the shooting began, according to friend and real estate broker Mike Vansickle. He was hit repeatedly but survived, Vansickle said.

“From just getting off the phone with the family, he took three bullets to his body,” said Vansickle. “He just came out of surgery, and he's going to make it.”

In a personal note on his real estate website, McIntosh describes himself as enjoying the outdoors in Alaska, where he also operates a business called Santa's Fireworks.

“Whether I'm fishing, snow machining, hunting, steel welding or building my own home or cabin; I stay active all year round,” McIntosh wrote.

Vansickle described McIntosh as being strong.

“He's been though lots of adversity,” said Vansickle. “He'll get through all this and come out with some stories to tell.”

High school secretary remembered as loving, sincere

Lisa Romero, a high school secretary from Gallup, New Mexico, was an “incredible loving and sincere friend, mentor and advocate for students,” the Gallup-McKinley County Public Schools interim superintendent said Monday.

District officials confirmed to reporters on Monday that Romero, 48, died sometime after a 64-year-old man fired multiple weapons.

“Last night during the mass shooting in Las Vegas we lost one of our staff members,” interim superintendent Mike Hyatt 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.”

Survivors included Romero-Muniz's husband, children and grandchildren, Hyatt said. Officials announced a candlelight vigil in honor of Romero-Muniz set for Monday night.

Canadian mother, mechanic's apprentice among those killed

Two Canadians - a mother of four and a man just days from his 24th birthday - were among those killed in the shooting.

Jessica Klymchuk, of Valleyview, Alberta, and Jordan McIldoon, 23, of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, died Sunday night in Las Vegas.

Klymchuk, 28, was an educational assistant, librarian and bus driver for St. Stephen's School, said the Holy Family Catholic Regional Division.

“The scope of this tragedy is worldwide, and we are feeling its impact here at home,” the division's superintendent, Betty Turpin, said in a statement.

A post on Klymchuk's Facebook page says she got engaged in April, and was in Vegas with her fiancé.

British Columbia Premier John Horgan said in a statement that Mclldoon, a mechanic's apprentice, was among those killed.

“We only had one child,” Al and Angela McIldoon, told the CBC. “We just don't know what to do.”

Horgan offered condolences and says flags will be dropped to half-staff on the province's Parliament buildings and on government buildings in Maple Ridge.

California officer, his girlfriend injured

A four-year veteran of the Ontario, California, police department was shot in the head during Sunday's shooting, Ontario Police Sgt. Jeff Higbee said.

Officer Michael Gracia was injured, as was his girlfriend.

“He's always real personable, upbeat, a real friendly guy,” Higbee said.

Police records technician 'will be greatly missed'

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.

Hockey coach shot in chest, in stable condition

Nick Robone, an assistant hockey coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was shot in the chest, the school said.

The Rebels men's ice hockey team said in a statement Monday that Robone had surgery to remove a bullet.

General Manager Zee Khan says Robone is breathing with help from a ventilator and is in stable condition.

The team says the bullet missed Robone's lung, and he is expected to fully recover. The team says he will be hospitalized “for the near future.”

District mourns special ed teacher's death

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.

Casey was at the Las Vegas concert with her fiancé 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.

Injured law student on bed rest

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.”

North Dakota real estate agent injured

A real estate agent from North Dakota was among the hundreds of concertgoers wounded in a shooting rampage at an outdoor show in Las Vegas.

Andrew Gudmunson of Minot, North Dakota, was at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, a trauma center near the Vegas strip. His condition was not immediately available.

Gudmunson works at Century 21 Action Realtors, said the firm's managing broker, Dorothy Martwick. Gudmunson was attending the concert with his girlfriend and another couple, she said.

Minnesota native wounded in attack

A Minnesota native living in Las Vegas was in critical condition after being wounded in the shooting.

Philip Aurich was at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, according to his alma mater, Concordia Academy in Roseville, Minnesota.

The private Christian school learned he was wounded from Aurich's brother Ben, spokesman Chris Roth said.

Aurich graduated in 1999 from Concordia Academy, where his father, Mike, was a longtime teacher and athletic director. Aurich graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2005 and is area president at First Option Mortgage in Las Vegas.

Husband protected wife on anniversary

Laurie Beaton was at the festival with her husband, Jack, celebrating their 23rd wedding anniversary when they heard what sounded like firecrackers. Like everyone around her, she was looking around to see who was lighting them when she felt something like air rush past her arm.

“I've never experienced gunshots but when I felt air go right past my arm I told my husband, 'I don't think that's fireworks,'” she said in a telephone interview from her home in Bakersfield, California.

“He told me, 'Get down, get down, get down,'” and put his own body on top of hers for protection, she said. “He told me, 'I love you, Laurie' and his arms were around me and his body just went heavy on me.”

Suddenly, she knew her husband had been shot. “I screamed his name and he wasn't answering me, there was a lot of blood,” she said.

Another man, someone who told her he was a nurse and an EMT, ran up and told her to put her husband on his side. Helping, she saw blood and heard her husband struggling to breathe.

As quickly as the shooting stopped it started again and now, with lights on, the man told one of the husband's friends who attended the festival with them to take the women to safety.

“So we ran,” she said.

Later, friends told Laurie that her husband wasn't on the ground anymore. “He had been moved so we were optimistic that he'd received help,' she said.

Calls to hospitals in search of Jack Beaton turned up nothing. Eventually she called the coroner's office, which said her husband was among the dead.

On Tuesday morning she was back home, trying both to comfort a 20-year-old son and an 18-year-old daughter who had just lost their father and be comforted by them.

Beaton said her husband, a 54-year-old construction worker, wouldn't want much said publicly about his death. But she wanted people to hear how he had protected her, just as he always had done.

“I knew every day that he would protect me and take care of me and love me unconditionally, and what he did is no surprise to me, and he is my hero,” she said.

'I have nothing but good memories of my mom'

As Jeff Rees thinks about his mom, Denise Cohen, one thing keeps repeating in his head: Her laugh.

“When she would take me to the movies as a kid, I was just waiting to hear her laugh because it would just crack me up,” Rees said.

Cohen, 58, and her boyfriend Derrick “Bo” Taylor, 56, both died at the Las Vegas concert. Taylor was a lieutenant in the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation. He worked as a commander at the Ventura Conservation Camp, which houses inmates that help California fight wildfires.

Rees met Taylor last year, when he traveled to California to visit his mother. The two had dated on and off for several years.

Cohen was a woman who lived life to the fullest and made everyone around her feel their best, Rees said.

“I feel sorry for all of the people in the world who never got a chance to meet her,” he said.

'He's our only son': A Wisconsin father mourns

Steven Berger of Shorewood, Minnesota, traveled to Las Vegas as he had many times before with his friends, but this time they would celebrate his 44th birthday.

A fan of country music, Berger and his roommate along with four others were enjoying the Jason Aldean show near the Las Vegas Strip when the rain of bullets began from the 32nd floor of a nearby hotel.

Mary Berger, 72, of Brookfield, Wisconsin, said her son's roommate called hours later to tell them Steven had been hit by gunfire and collapsed to the ground.

“He tried to go to him but they were trying to get people out of the way,” Berger said. He wasn't sure where Steven wound up, she added.

Steven's father, Richard Berger, said the family was notified by the coroner's office in Las Vegas on Tuesday afternoon that he had died.

“He's our only son,” Berger said choking up. “It's terrible. At least now we know. Now we got busy things to do with three grandchildren.”

Mary Berger described her son, a father of three, as fun-loving with a serious side and a hard worker. He played basketball in high school and college before he started his career as a financial adviser after graduating from St. Olaf College in 1995.

News felt 'like an atomic bomb went off in my heart'

Jennifer Topaz Irvine, a 42-year-old San Diego lawyer, was “bright, brilliant and could talk to millennials,” her publicist Jay Jones said.

When Jones heard that Irvine was among those killed at the Las Vegas concert, he said it was “like an atomic bomb went off in my heart. I just got punched dead in the gut.”

Family hoped hospital made a mistake

Andrea Castilla was so happy to be in Las Vegas celebrating her 28th birthday. She was holding hands with her sister while watching the band when they heard yells to “duck!” and the sound of gunshots, her aunt, Marina Parker, wrote on a GoFundMe memorial page to raise money for the funeral expenses.

Her boyfriend, sister and friend tried carrying her to safety while dodging bullets and managed to get her over a fence and to a nearby highway, where they flagged down a passing driver, who took them to a hospital in the back of his truck.

After she was admitted, they were told hours later that she had died, Parker wrote, but the hospital system listed her still as alive because she was confused with another patient.

“It has been tragic for our family with her dad still hoping it was a mistake and she's still alive,” Parker wrote.

After the family provided her ID and photos, she was confirmed to be among the dead.

“Our entire family is heartbroken,” Parker wrote on her Facebook page.

Students mourn loss of beloved teacher

Kelsey Meadows, 28, loved children so she returned to her small hometown of Taft, in the eastern part of California, to teach at her alma mater, Taft Union High School, after earning her degree. Meadows was a regular substitute teacher at the school.

“Kelsey was smart, compassionate and kind. She had a sweet spirit and a love for children,” Principal Mary Alice Finn said in a statement. “Words cannot adequately capture the sorrow felt by her students, colleagues and friends in learning of her passing.”

The school district said grief counselors were being made available to students and staff to “assist in coping with the incomprehensible loss.”

Her brother, Brad Meadows, posted on his Facebook page that his sister had not been heard from since going to the music festival in Las Vegas. The California firefighter thanked everyone for helping them try to find her.

“So it is with an absolutely shattered heart that I let everyone know that Kelsey did not survive this tragic event,” Meadows posted Tuesday. “Please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers as we try and move past this horrible time.”

California woman learns of family tragedy on Facebook

Maribel Ramirez had 30 minutes to go on her shift as a receptionist in Fontana, California, and decided to log onto Facebook. That's how she learned that her 26-year-old cousin, Melissa Ramirez, had been at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas.

That was about 4:30 p.m. Monday. No one could find Melissa in the confusion and chaos that followed the shootings.

“Nothing was confirmed, and we still had hope that she was alive,” Maribel Ramirez told The Associated Press Tuesday.

Melissa's parents and siblings hurried to Las Vegas from Littlerock, California, after getting word of the shootings.

“They searched Monday ... searched everywhere,” said another cousin, Fabiola Farnetti, 34, of Palmdale, California.

Around 5 a.m. Tuesday, Melissa's parents positively identified her body.

Farnetti said Melissa had been posting photos from the festival on Instagram and Snapchat. The 2015 graduate of California State University, Bakersfield, Melissa Ramirez worked as a member specialist for an auto insurance company.

“I'm sure she liked country music. I know she was really into music, period,” Farnetti said. “I never once saw her in a bad mood or upset about anything. She was always positive. Her smile would just brighten up everyone's day.”

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Associated Press Writers Rachel D'Oro in Anchorage, Alaska; Julie Watson in San Diego, California; Rob Gillies in Toronto; Mike Balsamo in Los Angeles; Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska; Jeff Baenen in Minneapolis; and Russell Contreras in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Corey R. Williams in Detroit; Brady McCombs in Salt Lake City; Julie Watson in San Diego, California; Rob Gillies in Toronto; Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Crystal Hill in Boston; Jason Dearen in Gainesville, Florida; Gretchen Ehlke in Milwaukee; and Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report. Babwin reported from Chicago; Dearen reported from Gainesville, Florida; Reeves reported from Birmingham, Alabama; and Ronayne reported from Sacramento, California.

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This version has been corrected to show the name of wounded college student Karessa Royce's cousin is Marissa Nino.

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For complete coverage of the Las Vegas shooting, click here: https://apnews.com/tag/LasVegasmassshooting