More than a month after the attack details remain harrowing to recount, and circumstances disturbing to recall, even for those safely at home during the massacre.
On Oct. 1 a gunman with motives as yet undetermined opened fire on concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the Las Vegas Strip.
The 58 people killed included 35 from California. While they have been nationally mourned in the half-life of media attention and emotional outpouring this country has allowed itself in the wake of regular tragedy, less focused on were the 546 injured or the toll taken on thousands of witnesses.
In San Luis Obispo County, 85 individuals have been identified by the FBI as having attended the concert and been swept up in the panic, evacuation and aftermath of the shooting. Even a month after returning home from a vacation gone as horribly wrong as one can conjure, 67 of those people have not been in contact with local officials who stand ready to help, said Beth Raub, Assistant Director of the SLO County District Attorney Office’s Victim/Witness Assistance Center.
Victims who attended the concert or even relatives of those affected can be connected to resources through the Christopher G. Money Victim Witness Assistance Center and the Victim Compensation Program.
Those resources can take the form of counseling and/or medical expense reimbursement or even begining a treatment process.
Something the 18 people that have contacted her office have not asked for was help in recovering items lost at the scene.
“They all had their phones,” Raub says, “but that’s usually the type of thing that can get lost when you’re fleeing for your life.”
Nonetheless, staff at the center are happy to connect survivors to the FBI Victim Services, who can help recover items.
With approximately 14,000 attendees and more than 50 percent of those at the Oct. 1 concert visiting from California, Victim/Witness Assistance Centers in every county are sending out the same message to their locals. Staff in SLO do have training for dealing with mass casualty incidents, Raub said, and they’re sadly likely to undergo more as “these of type of attacks increase.”
However, they don’t have any advertising or outreach resources beyond asking local media to put out the plea. While the FBI may be aware of how many, and who potential victims are, they’re prohibited from sharing that information directly.
What’s more, simply knowing who was present isn’t enough to help everyone in need, “in one case a woman, who has come forward, was on the phone to her boyfriend here at home while she was trying to escape.”
That’s a trauma for him as well. Hyper-vigilance, anxiety, and other stress responses are quite common for loved ones as well as those making an escape directly.
“We have to explain to most people what we’re here for,” Raub said, “I think the most common response is, ‘I’m fine’ and some of them may very well be fine. But we’re here if they need us.”
In short, the local center is a sort of “middleman” set up to connect anyone impacted by a criminal act with help.
“They do have up to three years to seek us out,” Raub said, “but I wouldn’t recommend anyone wait that long. Even if you’re physically uninjured.”
For information, the office is open Monday through Friday to speak to an advocate at 781-5821, or leave a message and they’ll return the call.
