‘He didn’t leave my side’: Vegas shooting survivor thanks new friend for saving her life

One of the countless stories of bravery to emerge in the aftermath of Sunday night’s mass shooting in Las Vegas came from a woman who didn’t know her personal hero before she left to attend the ill-fated concert.

In a Facebook post by social media company Love What Matters, the woman shared her story and a photo of the man who risked his life to protect her.

She identified the man only as “Brendan” and noted that the two had met only two hours before the concert targeted by a shooter on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino across the street.

“I left my friends so we could go up super close to the front for the end of the night,” the woman wrote. “We were just dancing and having fun and then all of the sudden there were loud noises that sounded like fireworks, but no lights were going off.”

Dozens were killed and hundreds more injured in the hail of gunfire that followed, but she credits Brendan for her survival.

“Before I knew what was going on, Brendan tackled me down to the ground and covered me from the fire,” she wrote. “It stopped again and he looked around to see what was happening and then it just kept going.”

As the gunfire continued, he reportedly grabbed her and ushered her to a safer place.

“Then he pulled my arm up to get me out of the piles of people,” she wrote. “We had no idea who was dead or who was alive. We just started to run.”

Brendan continually reassured her that they would be safe, she wrote, and stuck around when the coast was clear to let her use his phone to connect with her sister.

“The whole night he didn’t leave my side,” she wrote.

In addition to the survivor’s story, Love What Matters also shared a screenshot of a text message, apparently from her sister, sent to Brendan after the shooting.

“Glad I could be there for her in that crazy time,” he wrote, adding he was “more than happy to do it.”

The identity of the woman he helped is unclear, but Love What Matters credits Jenn and Renee Cesario for the story.

An Instagram post by Renee Cesario depicts her at a Brett Young concert, apparently during the Route 91 Harvest Festival, days prior to the massacre. Among the comments to the post are individuals checking in on her and referencing the shooting.

[Featured image: Facebook/Love What Matters]