Vegas concert ticket winners change mind last second, avoid massacre

WEBVTT TRIP COURTESY OF B105.THE FOLKS HERE AT WERE PLENTYWORRIED THIS MORNING WHEN THENEWS HIT.THAT'S STEVE HENRY AND HIFIANCE', MICHELE, OUT IN VEGASRIGHT BEFORE THE FESTIVAL.AS THE CHAOTIC RUSH TO GET AWAYFROM GUNFIRE UNFOLDED NEARBY, HEWAS AT THE SLOT MACHINES.>> ALL OF A SUDDEN EVERYBODY INTHE CASINO JUST GOT UP ANDSTARTED RUNNING, SCREAMING AND IDIDN'T KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON.BUT, I KNEW THAT THE FEAR FROMTHE PEOPLE'S SCREAMS AND THE WAYTHEY WERE RUNNING AND THE PANICTHAT I KNEW I JUST NEEDED TO GETOUT OF THERE WITH THEM.I JUST JOINED IN, I STARTEDRUNNINJOHN: TRYING TO FIND COVER,HENRY WAS HERDED WITH OTHERS TOA TENNIS COURT AND TOLD BYPOLICE TO WAIT.>> WE'LL CONTINUE TO KEEP YOUUPDATED THROUGHOUT THEAFTERNOON.JOHN: AT B105, IT WAS ANAGONIZING WAIT.THE COUPLE HAD WON THE VEGASTRIP THROUGH THE RADIO STATION.THEY WERE KEYED UP ABOUT IT, AFIST BUMP KIND OF THING.MAKING THEIR WAY CLOSE TO THESHOW'S STARS, HAVING A BLAST. AS NEWS OF THE MASSACRE HIT, BIGDAVE WAS TRYING OVER AND OVER TOREACH THEM BY PHONE FEARING THEYMIGHT BE AMONG THE DEAD.>> I HAD A LUMP IN MY THROAT.I HAD A ROCK IN MY STOMACH.I COULD NOT, I WAS VERYCONCERNED ABOUT GETTING IN TOUCHWITH HER AND FINDING OUT THATTHEY WERE OK.JOHN: THEY CONNECTED AROUND FO-- 4:00 A.M. AND FOUND OUT STEVEAND MICHELE HAD DECIDED AT THELAST MINUTE TO SKIP THE CONCERT.SHE WAS TIRED AND WENT TO SLEEPWHILE HE BRIEFLY HIT THE SLOTSAND GOT CAUGHT UP IN THE MADSCRAMBLE TO EVADE THE UNKNOWNDANGER.>> IF YOU WOULD HAVE ASKED ME AT10:00 IN THE MORNING YESTERDAY IWOULD HAVE SAID ABSOLUTELY BETHERE AND I DON'T KNOW, I DON'TKNOW WHY WE CHANGED OUR MINDJOHN: IT WAS A RELIEF TO THEFOLKS HERE.GRACE OF GOD IS THE WAY HE PUTIT ON WE SPOKE WITH HIM THISMORNING.

Updated: 9:53 AM CDT Oct 3, 2017

Editorial Standards ⓘ

Vegas concert ticket winners change mind last second, avoid massacre

Updated: 9:53 AM CDT Oct 3, 2017

Editorial Standards ⓘ

A Reading, Ohio, couple came close to being in the line of fire in Las Vegas on Sunday night.They were there for the country music festival that was the target of a lone gunman."The panic rippled through this city so fast," said Steve Henry. "It was so traumatic."Henry and his fiancee, Michele Vauthier, were having a great night in Vegas, having gone to dinner and then to the festival.But, at the last minute, Vauthier was weary and decided to call it a night while Henry veered into a casino for what he thought would be mere moments, until the screaming started."All of a sudden, everybody in the casino just got up and started running, screaming, and I didn't know what was going on," he said Monday by phone. "But I knew that the fear from the people's screams and the way they were running and the panic that I knew I just needed to get out of there with them. I just joined in. I started running."Trying to find cover, Henry was herded with others to a tennis court and told by police to wait.As the extent of the carnage became known, Henry spent two and a half hours cordoned off with hundreds of others, unable to connect with his bride-to-be."I was trying to call her and she didn't hear the phone ringing. Everybody was calling. The news hit the stations quick. My family started calling. Everybody, you know, checked in on Facebook, wanting to know if we're OK."At B105, it was an agonizing wait. The couple had won the Vegas trip in a contest at the radio station.They had been excited about the chance to see Jason Aldean and others perform onstage.As news of the massacre was reported early Monday, radio host Big Dave kept trying to reach the couple by phone, fearing they might be among the dead."I had a lump in my throat," Big Dave said later. "I had a rock in my stomach. I was very concerned about getting in touch with her and finding out that they were OK."Big Dave finally connected with Henry and Vauthier around 4 a.m."I felt responsibility for them winning 'cause it's a B105 prize they won and, obviously, they're B105 listeners," Big Dave said.Henry and Vauthier caught a Southwest Airlines flight home Monday as they were still processing the trauma of the ordeal."Everybody's edgy," he said. "There was a guy running through the lobby as we came out, just in a hurry. Security was on him in minutes. 'No, no running. Don't run in here. Slow down, sir. No running.' This is a totally different atmosphere than yesterday."

CINCINNATI —

A Reading, Ohio, couple came close to being in the line of fire in Las Vegas on Sunday night.

They were there for the country music festival that was the target of a lone gunman.

"The panic rippled through this city so fast," said Steve Henry. "It was so traumatic."
Henry and his fiancee, Michele Vauthier, were having a great night in Vegas, having gone to dinner and then to the festival.

But, at the last minute, Vauthier was weary and decided to call it a night while Henry veered into a casino for what he thought would be mere moments, until the screaming started.

"All of a sudden, everybody in the casino just got up and started running, screaming, and I didn't know what was going on," he said Monday by phone. "But I knew that the fear from the people's screams and the way they were running and the panic that I knew I just needed to get out of there with them. I just joined in. I started running."

Trying to find cover, Henry was herded with others to a tennis court and told by police to wait.

As the extent of the carnage became known, Henry spent two and a half hours cordoned off with hundreds of others, unable to connect with his bride-to-be.

"I was trying to call her and she didn't hear the phone ringing. Everybody was calling. The news hit the stations quick. My family started calling. Everybody, you know, checked in on Facebook, wanting to know if we're OK."

At B105, it was an agonizing wait. The couple had won the Vegas trip in a contest at the radio station.

They had been excited about the chance to see Jason Aldean and others perform onstage.

As news of the massacre was reported early Monday, radio host Big Dave kept trying to reach the couple by phone, fearing they might be among the dead.

"I had a lump in my throat," Big Dave said later. "I had a rock in my stomach. I was very concerned about getting in touch with her and finding out that they were OK."

Big Dave finally connected with Henry and Vauthier around 4 a.m.

"I felt responsibility for them winning 'cause it's a B105 prize they won and, obviously, they're B105 listeners," Big Dave said.

Henry and Vauthier caught a Southwest Airlines flight home Monday as they were still processing the trauma of the ordeal.

"Everybody's edgy," he said. "There was a guy running through the lobby as we came out, just in a hurry. Security was on him in minutes. 'No, no running. Don't run in here. Slow down, sir. No running.' This is a totally different atmosphere than yesterday."

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