On October 1 at 10:08 p.m. pacific time, Stephen Paddock opened gunfire from his hotel room at the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Approximately 22,000 people were gathered across a fifteen acre concrete lot for the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival at the time this all began. Jason Aldean, the last headliner of the concert was on stage when the bullets came raining from the sky.
As of this morning, 59 lives were taken and 527 individuals were injured, making this the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. This falls behind the Orlando Night Club shooting in June 2016 where forty-nine lives were claimed.
In the days following the shooting, many questions have been posed regarding increased security levels for both big outdoor events and smaller ones.
Kathy Hargis, Associate Vice President of Risk Management and Compliance at Lipscomb, said that she expects there to be changes made to security efforts.
“My professional guess is that [we] will probably see some heightened awareness and probably some changes that occur,” Hargis said. “[It] could be the hotel industry; it could be outdoor concerts; it could be several things.”
Hargis added that for the Dove Awards taking place on campus on October 17, the Risk Management office and Campus Security has been looking at exit options and security available in the case of an emergency.
According to Time Magazine, guards were on site for the festival and precautions were taken to help eliminate unsafe articles from the premises. No stuffed animals, drones, selfie sticks or weapons like box cutters, knives or bats were allowed inside of the venue.
Students, adults, and artists alike are uniting in the wake of this tragedy to pray and support those that lost loved ones and those that will be living through this for the rest of their lives.
“Over the last 24 hours I have gone through lots of emotions,” Aldean stated in an Instagram post last night. Scared, Anger, Heartache, Compassion and many others. I am so sorry for the hurt and pain everyone is feeling right now, and there are no words I can say to take that pain away. Just know you all are in my heart and my prayers as we all go through this together.”
Lipscomb’s Contemporary Music majors and musicians have also experienced sadness and heartbreak from this event.
“It’s impacted me so much more personally because I am a musician, so I just put myself in the shoes of how I would react if I was Jason Aldean who was performing during the time of the shooting,” senior Abbi Scott said. “It is so sad. I was grieving yesterday as if I had known somebody; that’s how sad I was from the shooting.”
Junior Zachary Daves from the band Daves Highway also expressed his grief.
“It breaks my heart that things like this happen in the country that I call home. It’s scary,” Daves said. “I can’t imagine being the artist on stage when something like that happens.”
Both Scott and Daves have performed in dozens of different venues across the United States, from small coffeeshops and outdoor festivals to big arenas opening for headlining artists.
Scott added, “I think it has definitely made me more aware of the industry, but it saddens me at the same point that the industry has gotten to this point. It kind of makes me a little scared, but at the same time I’m still going to do what I love.”
Many of the country artists that were in attendance at the festival the night of the shooting align in their ideals with Scott, noting that they will not put a halt in their careers because of senseless acts of hatred and violence.
Daves, alongside Scott, also mentioned that while the thought of something like Las Vegas occurring to him while he is on stage is scary, he is ultimately not going to let it stop him from performing.
“Most of the time when I get on stage I forget everything that is bothering me,” Daves said. “It won’t make me too scared to be there.”
While Lipscomb has never had an active shooter on campus, there are dozens of policies in place in case the University is ever put in that situation.
Hargis mentioned that the University has flip charts in each of the classrooms in order for students and faculty to know exactly what their options are if an active shooter ever enters the campus. “Get out, hide out and take out” are the three options proposed on campus in this event.
“Bison Alert is the number one way that we try to alert students [of emergencies on campus],” Hargis said. “If you have not signed up for the Bison Alert, we would like to ask that you do that. It will help give you some instructions as you go along.”
For more information on the procedures in place on campus, there are videos in MyLipscomb under resources and then under risk management.
In The Gathering this morning, campus minister Cyrus Eaton mentioned that some students were directly impacted by the shooting, although the amount of students was not released.
As flags fly at half-mast and the world cries out in prayer, SGA also joined in by hosting one hour of prayer last night for all students, staff and alumni.
“We hosted it because, as Christians, we felt called to pray for our nation at all times, but especially during hurting or crisis,” SGA President and senior Carson Panovec, said. “We also hoped that it could be a place of comfort for those who had known people who were affected. By praying, we are asking Him to help the people of Las Vegas. We don’t know what it will do, but we know it will do good.”
For those wishing to do more to help the victims of the Las Vegas shooting, the Nashville Chapter of Red Cross is taking sign-ups for those who are eligible to donate blood. The chapter can be reached at 1-800-733-2767 or by emailing jcaden3@gamil.com.