A couple planned a special date to attend a Las Vegas country music festival months in advance. They – like all others – could not imagine the monstrous massacre that would transpire.
Valdo Panzera Jr. traveled from New Jersey to be with his girlfriend, Megan, who had recently moved to Las Vegas.
After the long-distance couple reunited, the lives of thousands were forever changed by one man.
"It was a short burst like 'pap, pap, pap, pap, pap' ... Megan turns to me and goes 'Babe, what was that?' I'm like 'I don't know. Fireworks?'" Panzera said.
The Las Vegas concert massacre gunman Stephen Paddock had begun his onslaught as he shot into a crowd of 23,000 country music fans.
Pandemonium ensued. Thousands of people began rushing to escape. A stampede began pushing Megan, who is pregnant.
"Megan's six weeks pregnant. I'm going to be a dad and I'm just thinking that it's my girlfriend, my future wife and my child I have to worry about," Panzera continued.
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The expecting couple saw an opening through a fence and squeezed through, entering the property of a Motel 6 where the manager helped them and dozens of others.
Under shelter, Panzera called an Uber driver who picked him and his pregnant girlfriend up and away from the carnage. Though the future family was spared, dozens of others were not so lucky.
"Megan. Megan and my child ... I did my best to protect them," Panzera said.
