Las Vegas is a popular destination for North Texas residents, and some experienced the fear and chaos of Sunday night's music festival shooting firsthand.
"We were walking to meet some friends at Mandalay Bay, and as we were walking we began to hear rapid gunfire," said Diana George, of McKinney, after her flight from Las Vegas landed Monday at Dallas Love Field. "People started running towards us, screaming, 'It's a shooter! Run, run, run!'"
"It was nonstop — like 40 to 50 shots," said Amy Santos, of Plano.
Those are not the stories you expect to have after your vacation.
"We were really scared. We are all still kind of in shock," George said.
The women said they were thankful to be home in North Texas.
"Just lucky to be here, because we were just about to cross the street heading into that hotel," Santos said.
They left Las Vegas as everything was still chaotic.
"When the plane took off we were able to see down into that area," Paul Burn, of Las Vegas, said at the Love Field baggage claim area. "There was a feeling — and there was definitely sadness [and] bewilderment."
While home, many still have the residents of Las Vegas firmly on their minds.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
"Honestly, I'm trying to hold it together. Just because it's too much," Santos said. "You hear it on the news, and you just never think you are going to go through something like that."
Todd Blyleven and his wife, Cathie, are still shaken.
"We're just seeing people just getting shot," Blyleven said.
The Frisco couple was near center stage when the shooting started.
"The pops just kept repeating, and people were falling and going down," Blyleven said.
They and six friends ran for cover, diving behind some police cars.
"We could hear the bullets whizzing and ricocheting off the metal buildings," Blyleven said.
But then he and others ran back to help the injured, pulling more than two dozen people to safety.
"These poor people were just getting shot, and the first lady I saw was an elderly woman who got shot in the leg, so went and grabbed her and it was just one after another and just started taking people out," Blyleven said.
Not far away, Garry Wolk and his wife, Linda, were taking cover under their seats.
"We were obviously frightened, not knowing what to do. People were saying run, others were saying, no, just get down," Wolk said.
Sherry Hasty, of Dallas, was invited to the concert, but she decided not to go, her friends later among those dodging the bullets.
"All my friends, they saw firsthand people die, so I'm very thankful that I'm alive. It was just a very unfortunate incident. It's sad that America's come to this point," Hasty said.
NBC 5's Kevin Cokely contributed to this report.
