At least five of the people injured in the Las Vegas shooting were from Texas.
More than 50 people were killed and at least 500 were injured when a gunman opened fire on a crowd at a country music concert on Sunday.
An Austinite who was at the show, Michaela Clark, underwent surgery after being shot, and is recovering. A recent Texas Tech graduate, Danae Gibbs, 23, sustained two gunshot wounds in the attack, loved ones said.
Seguin Deputy Police Chief Bruce Ure “suffered a minor wound on his hand,” the department said. An online fundraiser for a Dallas-area student raised more than $63,000 in one day. Spicewood resident Chad Daoust was hurt as he shielded his wife and her friends from the hail of bullets.
“Heard the first four shots that sounded like fireworks. No red white and blue,” Daoust said over the phone. “I didn’t know where it was coming from.”
Daoust explained, “A whole barrage of fire came around [us] and my wife and her two friends started running.” He laid over them and was shot in the lower back.
He said one of the last things he remembers about the incident was calling his son. “Told him I loved him,” he said as he held back tears. “I looked up and I saw a deceased man with a woman standing over him in blood and I told my wife we had to go.”
He remembered being carried by four men to a vehicle, and taken to a hospital where he underwent surgery.
Loved ones said doctors left a bullet inside him because it was too close to his vital organs, and there were concerns about rupturing his lung.
Cade Bruck goes to high school with Daoust’s son, Rylee. Daughter Morgan also goes to Lake Travis High School.
“It’s crazy that it happened to one of my best friend’s parents,” Bruck explained. He wanted to help the family that he has grown to love. So, he helped launch an internet fundraiser for the Daousts with an original goal of raising a few hundred dollars. In one day, they raised more than $1,000.
“I’m glad as a community we have their backs and we are here to support them for when they return,” Bruck said.
The support means the world to Chad Daoust, too, who now has a “different perspective on life.”
“It’s touching. It really is,” he said.
Bruck said helping this family is the least he could do. “What he did for his wife and her friends, stepping out in front of the bullets, protecting them, that is a true hero,” Bruck said.
Daoust added, “It means a lot. Definitely not needed, but the kindness is unspeakable.”
The family plans to return to Central Texas later in the week. “I can’t wait to get back,” Daoust said with a sigh of relief.
