One year ago on October 1. 2017, a country music festival took place in Las Vegas, when concert attendees began to hear gunshots.

Initially  concertgoers assumed that the popping sounds around 10 o’clock were apart of the show. However, about five minutes after, they soon began to realize that the sounds were gunshots. Party goers then ran for cover, trying to escape the spastic bullets raining down on them.

Officers who first arrived on the scene, reported that the deranged shooter seemed to be positioned above them on the roof. While the last round of shots was said to have gone off around 10:15 , 15 minutes later, eight officers proceeded to  investigate the Mandalay Bay resort where the shooter was reportedly staying.

Officers were able to breach the area and take down the suspect:  64 year-old Stephen Paddock;  however, officers report that Paddock had taken his own life prior to their arrival.

Paddock killed 59 people and injured anywhere from 489 to 527 people, and hundreds of people were admitted to hospitals. Dr. Jay Coates, a specialized trauma surgeon at the  University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, recalls that “They were coming in so fast. We were taking care of bodies. We were just trying to keep people from dying… every bed was full.”

During the this time, officers and first responders were desperately  trying to gather people into the hotel and out of harms way.

Las Vegas resident, Carrissa White didn’t attend the concert but recalls it vividly as she states, “When I heard about the Las Vegas shooting I was horrified and scared. That night I was en route with my husband and son coming home from a weekend trip. The shooting was happening as I was driving home. Anything could have happened if we took a different route…” she continues, “My love and condolences go out to all those that lost family or loved ones.”

Billboard news reports that the Route 91 Las Vegas event was “the largest mass shooting to ever happen in modern American history.” Many families were affected by the horrific and tragic event. Mothers and fathers lost their children, husbands and wives lost their spouses, and brothers and sisters lost their siblings. All due to an act of pure hate.

America needs to love one another, to band together in a time of need. And that’s exactly what the community of Las Vegas did. Billboard news reported that Jason Aldean visited hospitalized victims of the shooting and sang to them.

So while a dreadful event took so many lives, it is truly American to stand up, fight, and spread love.