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Jake Owen was side-stage as shots began to ring out during Jason Aldean‘s performance at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas on Sunday night (Oct. 1). The singer was able to give a horrific firsthand account of events.
His team is safe, having taken cover on his tour bus. Thus far 50 are confirmed dead and hundreds injured as a result of a four-minute-long shooting from the 32nd floor of the nearby Mandalay Bay Casino. Owen says he could hear shots ringing off the stage rigging before he ran to take cover.
There was “chaos and fear in everyone’s eyes” he tells CNN.
“This sounded like a full-on, automatic rifle just unloading at that point,” he says to the Bobby Bones Show. “Jason was out on the catwalk, he just pulled his guitar up in the air and started running back towards the drum set to get off the stage. And that’s when you knew. People started fleeing. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Owen further theorized that Aldean’s in-ear monitors may have prevented him from hearing the gunshots, and that someone may have told him to get off the stage. Aldean issued an overnight Instagram statement in which he reported that he, his wife and his team are safe.
“My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved tonight,” Aldean says. “It hurts my heart that this would happen to anyone who was just coming out to enjoy what should have been a fun night.”
Gun shots!!! Vegas. Pray to god. Love you guys. Love you Pearl.
— Jake Owen (@jakeowen) October 2, 2017
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