SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Three years after a gunman opened fire on a Las Vegas country concert and the memories are still fresh for survivors. This year marks a few important milestones for families and survivors.
A settlement announced one day before the three-year anniversary, meaning $800 million will go to victims and families.
Also, Nevada’s Governor Steve Sisolak added two more to the list of people who died as a result of the shooting. Since 2017, two people died as a result of injuries they got that night, meaning 60 people were killed.
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Chelsea Romo, a Temecula local, was at the concert and shot in the face. She lost her eye and now three years later, has had seven surgeries and now has a prosthetic eye. She said because of the chaos of physically healing the past few years, this is the first anniversary where she’s been able to grieve more.
“I was going through so many surgeries and having so much at the time of the first and second that it kind of kept my mind so busy and so focused on that, and I tried so hard not to feel but this year I feel it a lot more,” said Romo.
Doctors thought Romo would lose her sight and speech, but she defied those odds. There is still a long road to recovery for her, but she’s thankful for the life she’s been blessed with. She takes every October 1 to remember those who weren’t as lucky.
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“This is the time we come together and we remember and we love on each other and we think about the people that are not here now,” she said.
Tiffany Huizar was just 18 when she was shot in her elbow, hand and stomach. Now, at 21, she said she’s had to grow up faster than most her age.
“It definitely made me grow up super fast because I was now dealing with things normal 18 teens aren’t dealing with. So when my friends said hey let’s go to the movies tonight, let’s go bowling, it was like I automatically knew I couldn’t do that. I knew I couldn’t be in that closed place,” said Huizar.
Huizar added that the news of the settlement has added a little bit of closure this year. She hopes other large corporations learn from this shooting and add better security.
The two survivors are represented my James Frantz, a San Diego attorney.
