Like many of the thousands of people around him, Robert Weiss, PA-C, thought the popping sound he heard was firecrackers. It was October 1, 2017, and he was sitting in the grandstands at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival with his wife, Beth, a registered nurse, watching Jason Aldean perform. Then, after hearing the noise again, Weiss, an emergency medicine PA with TeamHealth Emergency Medicine, saw a police officer by the stage holding his firearm. That’s when he realized: The popping noise was gunshots.
The Weisses first took cover behind their seats. Then they made their way to the standing room only area by the stage. “At that point, people were scrambling and running. The crowd was moving in varying directions,” he says. As they moved, the Weisses passed a young woman who had been shot in the head. Gunshots continued while they worked their way down the stairs and onto the dirt and asphalt of the lot below.
From there, the Weisses knew they had to get to the medical tent, which was across the field, to help with care. As they made their way there, Weiss covered Beth every time he heard a burst of gunfire. When they arrived at the tent, patients had filled every available space. They were sitting in folding chairs and lying on the ground. Some had gunshot wounds to the chest, abdomen, or thigh; some had sprained ankles or trample injuries; some were emotionally distraught without physical injury. Weiss says, “I identified myself and tried to find whoever was in charge. And I got to work.”
Jennifer Walker is a freelance writer in Baltimore, MD. Contact Jennifer at [email protected]
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