US veteran steals truck, saves dozens after Las Vegas shooting

Aris Folley
Updated ·2 min read

Iraq veteran Taylor Winston is being hailed as a hero for his courageous acts during the Las Vegas shooting that claimed 59 lives on Sunday evening and left over 500 people wounded.

Winston, 29, was attending the Route 91 Harvest country music festival with friends when shooter Stephen Paddock opened fire on the crowd from a hotel nearby.

Winston, who previously served in the Marines, immediately sprang into action amid the spraying bullets and stole a pick-up truck to transport dozens of victims to the hospital, CBS reports.

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Me and a friend went and got a few drinks and found our other friends near the side stage and we just kind of posted up there to watch and enjoy the concert," Winston told the outlet.

He describes himself and thousands of other concertgoers soon later to be boxed in by a fence once gunfire erupted.

"The shots got louder and louder, closer to us and saw people getting hit, it was like we could be hit at any second. Once we got to the fence, I helped throw a bunch of people over, and got myself over," Winston said. "It was a mini war zone but we couldn't fight back."

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"I saw a field with a bunch of white trucks. I tested my luck to see if any of them had keys in it, first one we tried opening had keys sitting right there. I started looking for people to take to the hospital," Winston said. "There was just too many and it was overwhelming how much blood was everywhere."

Once he dropped off a group of victims, he returned to the festival to gather more. Winston estimated he transported roughly "20 to 30 people" to the hospital that evening.

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Winston, who enlisted in the military when he was 17 and was honorably discharged as a sergeant in 2011, said he thinks his military experience aided him in the harrowing situation while adding that he rejects the "hero" label he's earned following the traumatic episode.

"There was a lot of bravery and courageous people out there. I'm glad that I could call them my country folk," he said.