Las Vegas Shooting: Country Artists React to Route 91 Festival
Jason Aldean, Chris Young, Jake Owen give harrowing first-person accounts of the violence that erupted at concert near Mandalay Bay
By Jon Freeman
At least 50 people were killed and more than 400 injured in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history on Sunday night, as a shooter opened fire on country music fans assembled outside the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino for the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas.
Night Three headliner Jason Aldean was onstage for his set when the violence began and fled the stage to find safety. He later confirmed that he and his crew were unharmed. “Tonight has been beyond horrific,” he wrote on Instagram.
The incident has already surpassed the 2016 shooting in Orlando, where 49 people were killed in the gay club Pulse, and has echoes of the 2015 concert shooting in Paris at the Bataclan while the Eagles of Death Metal played.
Several performers, including Chris Young and Jake Owen were on the ground in Las Vegas when the shooting took place and tweeted about their experience. Their country peers also reached out with words of shock and condolences.
