It was love of family — not love of country music — that brought Paul Gallegos Sr. to Las Vegas on a fateful day last fall.
The Lakewood, CA, letter carrier’s wife and three grown sons convinced him to join them for the Route 91 Harvest Festival, the outdoor concert where a gunman opened fire on the crowd, ultimately killing nearly 60 and wounding more than 500.
As the first shots rang out, Gallegos and his wife were able to reach their truck but got separated from their sons.
On his way out, Gallegos stopped several times to pick up fleeing concertgoers, including three who were wounded.
“I don’t know how badly they’re hurt, but I have to get them help as fast as I can,” he recalled later in an interview with a regional Fox station.
Gallegos drove his passengers away from the scene until he found paramedics to treat the gunshot victims, including a woman whose friend later located him via social media and thanked him for his life-saving bravery.
“It makes me feel like there was a purpose why I was there,” said Gallegos.
He and his wife were eventually reunited with their sons, all of whom reached safety.