Jason Aldean is recalling the terrifying moments surrounding the mass shooting that took 58 lives in Las Vegas.
In his first TV interview since the tragedy at Route 91 Harvest festival, the country star tells Today he initially thought the gunfire was a blown speaker, adding “all you can hear is the music and maybe your guys that can talk to you on microphones that are side-stage.”
“It lasted longer the second time,” Jason remembers. “I was actually kind of getting aggravated, so I looked over at the monitor guy on the side of the stage, and I was like, ‘What is that? And fix it.’ So when I turned and looked, my guitar player had run behind me and was telling me to move, like, ‘Let’s go,’ and my security guy was running on stage, telling me to run.”
Jason describes what ensued as “pandemonium” because everyone “didn’t know where to go and what to do.” What those 22,000 people didn’t know was that a gunman had opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino across the street. The incident is now referred to as the worst mass shooting in modern American history.
The "They Don't Know" singer goes on to say he’ll “never forget” the tragedy.
“I just want everybody to know, for me, this is something that obviously we’re all going to try to move on and I have to do that as well, but it’s something I’ll never forget,” he says. “I hope everybody can start to heal. Some of the stuff you’ll never get over. I hope it gets better for everybody as time goes on.”
The recent Country Rising benefit concert in Nashville raised more than $4 million for victims in Las Vegas as well as those impacted by recent hurricanes across the nation.
Fans can continue to give by texting ‘NASHVILLE’ to 41010 or by linking up at CountryRising.org.
Photo: Getty Images