Beri and Jason Adams were among the thousands of concertgoers enjoying the Jason Aldean concert last Sunday in Las Vegas when a gunman, Stephen Paddock, perched from his room on the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, began firing shots. The couple relived the experience while talking to Nancy Grace, and described an atmosphere of sheer panic surrounding them as they made their way to safety, thanks to a young man named Eric, who the Adams would like to find again and thank.
Beri Adams recalled that at first, as with many others, she didn’t think she was hearing gunshots as she listened to Country music singer, Aldean, perform. Yet, as someone who has been around guns and gunfire, Beri quickly realized that the rapid succession of pop sounds couldn’t have been fireworks.
“It did sound a little bit fireworks, but I think I quickly knew it was not fireworks because it was in perfect succession.”
Beri explained that Aldean had just started performing the 4th song of his set when he suddenly turned and ran from the stage. It was then that Beri realized something serious was happening. She said she dropped to her knees in prayer, while her husband, Jason, joined her. Her husband then laid on top of her to protect her, while she sent a text messages to her two boys, ages 14 and 16, back at home.
When they heard the gunshots stop, the couple knew they only had a brief amount of time to run to safety, should the gunman reload and start shooting again. Beris recalled the atmosphere was completely chaotic, with people screaming, crying, and running frantically.
Jason said he saw people trying to break the glass of nearby windows to get safety, while others were jumping into the beds of trucks and ducking for cover. He also recalled shoes, purses, sunglasses, boots, and other items scattered all over the ground as people dropped their belongings and began running.
Beri said as they started running themselves, they prayed they were running away from the shooter. It was impossible to tell exactly where the gunshots were coming from.
“It sounded like the closest thing I could imagine to being in a war. It was very disorienting. It was dark and the gunshots were reverberating, so you couldn’t tell where they were coming from. You could have been running towards the shooter. You don’t really know if you’re running toward or away.”
As the couple continued running, they noticed a lady with her foot wedged into a fence. Jason stopped to help her, then the pair continued on until they spotted a man in a car nearby.
“It was just a young kid and he said ‘sure,'” Beri said, explaining that they asked a young man named Eric if he could taken them back to their hotel.
Jason offered Eric $40 to get them to safety. Eric drove them back to their hotel, but refused to take accept any money.
“He would not take our money and before he left he said, ‘You know, I live in that area and I’m going to go back and see if I can get some more people out of there,” Beri said.
The Adams are eternally grateful to the young man, who likely drove back and rescued more people. They’re now trying to find him, but aside from a photo they took of him (see below), and the type of car he drove (a black Kia Soul), they don’t have anything else to go on.
[Feature Photo: Beri and Jason Adams]
