A Santa Clara resident staying on the same hotel floor as the gunman who opened fire and killed at least 59 people attending an outdoor country music festival in Las Vegas described being "terrified" as utter chaos broke out around her.
Meredith Rich, who is a family member of an NBC Bay Area employee and is in Las Vegas for a work conference, had just returned to her hotel room Sunday night when she heard shots ring out.
"I was terrified," Rich said. "I was all by myself in a hotel room not knowing what was going on, just hearing chaos."
Rich was one of multiple people with Bay Area connections who were in the Las Vegas area Sunday night and either heard the gunshots or witnessed thousands of concertgoers pouring out of the outdoor venue in search of safety.
She was notified via a group chat with her colleagues to shelter in place. She hunkered down in her hotel room bathroom, anxiously listening for several minutes as people ran up and down the hallway.
"My experience was a lot of uncertainty," Rich said.
Local
Roughly one hour after taking shelter, Rich described hearing a "loud pop" from somewhere down the hall. She believes that sound was some sort of explosive device used by officers to make entry into the room where the shooter was located. Officers stormed the room and found that the gunman had killed himself, according to officials.
Officers later made entry into Rich's room, she said. She came out of the bathroom with her hands up before being told to get on the ground so officers could search and clear the room. She was then transported out of the room and housed in a darkened theater with other guests. Officials told those in the theater to "get down and stay down," according to Rich.
The massacre in Las Vegas marks the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
