Flint Newlyweds Survive Las Vegas Massacre, Injured In Petrified Crowd
FLINT (WWJ) - It was supposed to be a romantic Las Vegas wedding getaway; but instead, a Flint couple found themselves running for their lives in what they describe as the most horrifying experience imaginable.
"It's something that will never stop replaying in my head, 24 hours a day," 43-year-old Tavahree Blassingame said.
He and his wife Cristle, married for just two days, were on their way into a casino hotel, the night of the October 1 mass shooting, when they were pushed out back into the streets.
"As we're going in, a crowd coming out like 'Active shooter!' And this was in the hotel casino New York New York; which right by the Mandalay. We ended up having to run right to where he was shooting at," he told WWJ's Chrystal Knight.
"We heard shots: Te-te-te-te-te! Te-te-te-te-te!" Blassingame said, describing what he called a massacre zone. "The cop is down, he's deceased. Hundreds of bodies laying down on the ground, face down; some dying, some just screaming for life."
As they fled the gunfire, Blassingame was hit by a car and suffered a mild heart attack. At once point the panicked crowd began to trample Cristle, who had an asthma attack and fell in the street.
"I brought out the asthma pump and nothing was working," she said. "So all of a sudden my husband came back and got me and he said, 'I'm here to protect you, I'm your husband.'"
Blassingame picked her up and they ran hand-in-hand to safety behind the T-Mobile Arena about a mile a way. From there the newlyweds were taken by EMS to a Vegas hospital.
"I'm seeing people coming in bloody; the whole hospital just bloody. They coming in four or five at a time; some deceased, some just fighting for their life, Blassingame said.
Now back home in Flint, Blassingame said he has been unable to sleep, fears going out and plans to seek counseling.
"I don't really want to be around nothing where there's more than like two people at, because I feel like something is going to happen. It's just real horrifying; it's nerve-wracking."
CBS News reports an investigation is ongoing into the background of the gunman, Stephen Paddock who opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest Festival, killing 58 people and wounding more than 450 others. Police found Paddock dead in the hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, where shot hundreds of rounds at the crowd of over 20,000 people.
