A pair of Arbroath women were trapped in Las Vegas’ Mandala Bay Hotel as a gunman murdered dozens of people from his hotel room window several floors above them.
School friends Fiona McKinnon and Sara Gillan, both 43, were at the country music festival but were in the lobby of the hotel when the atrocity played out on Sunday.
They were trapped for six hours in darkness as police sealed them in a room for protection while they located the killer, 64-year-old Nevada resident Stephen Paddock.
Fiona said that while she lay in the darkness fearing for her life, she tried to stay updated through social media and news outlets and feared there was more than one shooter loose in the hotel.
She said: “We were at the Mandalay Bay having drinks on the roof top bar and then headed back to the lobby around 9.30pm to watch the Cirque de Soleil show.
“They stopped the performance half way through, just after 10pm and cut the lights.
“It was frightening as we didn’t know what was happening so I jumped on to use twitter to get information which said that their was a shooter, or shooters, in our hotel.
“All we knew was that there was a ‘situation’ in the hotel and we were being locked in for our safety.”
While Fiona and Sara listened to round-after-round ring out from up high, at least 59 people were being systematically picked-off by the lone-gunman.
527 others have been injured in the sickening act.
IT consultant Fiona added: “We had a few scary moments when we were told that someone in the theatre had a gun and also that someone had tried the door, this made everyone leap under their seats and stay there for probably an hour, maybe more.
“We were locked in the theatre for approximately six hours and then eventually bussed in groups to an evacuation centre under guard from very heavily armed troops.
“It was only when we where outside that we realised we were across the road from the terrible scene and that all the emergency crews, and bodies, were all still there.
“We met people at the centre who had been directly affected, separated from friends or injured. Their stories unimaginable.
“We stayed safe when so many didn’t. We were not in direct danger as we now know that he was dead hours before we were released, but the unknown and the fact that individuals can freely carry guns (particularly in this kind of heightened tension environment) means that you just never know how quickly things can escalate. We were fortunate when so many were not.”
Fiona, who grew up in Arbroath but now lives in London, had organised the trip to meet school friend and Australia-resident Sara and the pair are due to move on to Santa Barbara to meet another friend.
Fiona’s father, Alex, said they only found out about both the shootings and the pair’s welfare when they woke on Monday morning.
The 81-year-old said: “It was quite horrendous.
“A friend got in touch with Fiona’s sister to let us know that she was in the hotel but that she was OK. It was a real shock to hear.
“We haven’t spoken to her on the phone or anything but we’re just glad to know that she’s safe. She sent us a text yesterday. She said it was quite scary and that she was left in the dark throughout the shooting both literally and figuratively.
“They turned off the lights and nobody really knew what was happening.”
Alex said Fiona had also narrowly avoided the 2005 terrorist attack in London.
The retired Marine Engineer said: “She was due to get on a train at London’s King’s Cross just five minutes before the attack but she missed that by the skin of her teeth.
“She is a real globetrotter so she is used to being in lots of situations but perhaps not something as scary as this.
“She will still be a wee bit on edge no doubt but she will be OK I’m sure.”
