A woman injured in the mass shooting earlier this month at a Las Vegas music festival has been reconnected with the B.C. man who saved her life.
Deena Hancock Chapman shared a Facebook post on Friday evening looking for a man who she said saved her life during the events of Oct. 1.
That evening, gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay resort hotel, killing dozens and injuring hundreds of people at the Route 91 Harvest music festival across the street.
In her post, Hancock Chapman said she was struck by a bullet at the same as another man nearby who had shielded her head with his torso. She attached two photos, one of a crowd with the man in question circled, and another that pictured herself and the two friends who had been accompanying her at the festival.
“I am looking for the VANCOUVER CANADA man circled in this photo who saved my life,” she begins. “All I know is you have a 17 and a 20 year old boy at home and we joked about them throwing a party in your house while you were gone.”
“PLEASE help me find this man. I would not be typing this message otherwise. We both got shot at the same time as he shielded my head with his torso.
I’ve scoured the victims list and am beyond grateful I have not seen his, his wife’s or their friends faces.”
Within an hour, another commenter pointed Hancock Chapman toward a Surrey News Leader story that identified the man as Kevin Sears, who had been sharing his own story of survival with local media back home in B.C.
Sears, who was at the festival with his wife, told reporters he had been hit by a bullet just below his shoulder blade and that it then exited a few inches below his armpit.
Hancock Chapman then sent messages to Sears via a crowdfunding page and also through a Facebook account she was able to track down for him.
“Thank you to everyone who shared this,” read an updated shared Sunday morning. “I found my hero Kevin Sears within minutes! We were able to talk as well I was able to talk to his sweet wife Coleen Myton Sears too!
“They know they are stuck with me and we are forever connected and my family and friends are forever grateful to this special man.”
At least 58 people died in the shooting, while 546 others were injured. Paddock was later found dead in his hotel room from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police are still investigating.
Messages from Postmedia to Hancock Chapman have not yet been returned.
