McKinney mother, daughter caught in gunfire during Vegas shooting
A mother and daughter from McKinney were at the concert when the gunshots began.
The two were separated from one another and were forced to take cover as bullets struck other victims just mere feet away.
Monnique and Taylor Nunez were at the Route 91 Harvest Festival with a group of about 15 people watching Jason Aldean perform when the shooting started.
"We actually thought it was fireworks going off,” Monnique said. “Then we realized people were getting hit, but we didn't know where the shots were coming from. That's what the scary thing was. So everyone just started running and trying to get down."
"Then when we saw Jason Aldean, the singer, run,” Taylor recalled. “That's when we knew what was happening and everybody just dropped."
Monnique says she was taking cover with a small group of people when one of them, a doctor, was struck in the leg.
"He was there trying to make sure we were all covered, trying to protect us,” Monnique said. “There was a break in the shots. He told us all he couldn't get up. But he told us all to just get up and go."
“He would stop and reload. So everybody was down for a while,” Taylor said. “And then when he would stop, people would start running again and trampling. It was chaos."
The mother and daughter were in different parts of the concert before the shooting started. They were separated for hours.
"I was just praying and praying and praying that they were okay,” Monnique said. “We were separated for a good four hours, probably in separate locations in different hotels."
Now back home in North Texas and safe, emotional wounds still remain for the family. The images of horror are still fresh in their minds.
"Just still seeing bodies on the streets, bodies covered in sheets,” Monnique said. “That's when it really started to sink in — the aftermath."