Vegas shooting: Mother shot in back while shielding fiance Snapchats defiant photo of herself holding child
|
Version 0 of 1. Michael Gracia took a bullet to the head just before his fiancee leapt to shield him from further hits. Summer Clyburn was also shot in the back in the process of shielding her boyfriend and the father of their three-month old baby. Both have miraculously survived the Las Vegas massacre that led to 59 deaths and over 500 people injured in what is the deadliest shooting in modern American history. The brave mother can be seen in a Snapchat post, carrying her baby just a short while after being bandaged for her wound at the hospital. Ms Clyburn's friend wrote in a public Facebook post which accompanied the Snapchat photo that the bullet had "shattered inside of [Ms Clyburn] and unable to be removed." "If this isn't the definition of a strong woman then [I do not know] what is," she wrote. The couple is from Upland, California and Mr Gracia is a police officer in Ontario, California who was off-duty while attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival and country music star Jason Aldean's concert on that ill-fated Sunday night. He has been with the department for "several years" beginning as a jailer and eventually becoming an officer four years ago. He underwent emergency surgery for his head injury and according to his police department he is in "critical but stable condition." A GoFundMe page was set up to help the young couple and has already raised over $60,000 to help with Mr Gracia's long recovery process. Stephen Paddock, the alleged gun, shot several hundred bullets into a crowd of 21,000 people at the concert from the 32nd floor window of his room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas strip. Police believe Mr Paddock shot himself just before they stormed the room and found several weapons and rounds of ammunition among his possessions. |