Country duo Big & Rich have broken their silence about the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting that occurred hours after they hit the stage at the Las Vegas event.
The stars, Big Kenny Alphin and John Rich performed less than two hours before headliner Jason Aldean’s set was cut short when a gunman opened fire on the crowd from a hotel room high above the open-air festival on Sunday night (01Oct17).
Stephen Paddock shot and killed 59 people before turning his gun on himself before police officials stormed his hotel room.
“We played the show about 90 minutes before Jason Aldean,” Rich tells U.S. news show Extra, “We had actually gone to a bar I own in Las Vegas to play a little after-show, and they tapped us on the shoulder and said there were active shooters at the 91 festival.”
“It was intense,” he continued. “Kenny stepped off the bus as a SWAT team was coming straight at him…
“Our band, people in my bar, they were trying to get people on the phone ’cause they just came from the show.
“There were people weeping, sobbing screaming.”
Kenny adds, “For blocks and blocks down the (Las Vegas) Strip there were people running scared.
“Every room in that hotel practically had the most stellar views of the venue. We sat there in our room, right under the floor the shooter was in last night, and watched people come into the venue… Now, it’s just shock and just heartbroken (sic).”
He also commended the stellar work of the first responders on the scene.
“They were on it quick,” Kenny noted, insisting the ordeal hasn’t broken his spirit: “Fear will not overcome us,” he says.
