Vegas Hero Who Survived A Mass Shooting Died By Suicide: His Parents Are Searching For Those He Saved
When a country music concert in Las Vegas turned into a killing field, Scotty Pettersen of Seattle assisted so many gunshot victims that he lost count.
As bullets struck hundreds of people, Pettersen, 27, rushed his girlfriend and a nearby family to the safety of an ambulance.
The paramedics were out helping others, but four gunshot victims were inside the ambulance. Pettersen’s EMT and firefighter training came into play.
“I grabbed gauze, “I got some bandages and started wrapping a guy, and then “I started covering him when another man with a gunshot wound came up, said Pettersen Seattle’s KIRO-TV just a few days after the shooting Oct. 1, 2017 massacre that killed 58 people. It is still the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
Pettersen assists the man with the back wound. The woman who had been shot in the thigh appeared “bleeding everywhere,” according to Pettersen.
“Two seconds later, a man with a shoulder wound walks in.” In another five seconds, a woman arrives with a neck wound. “It just kept going,” he said.
Pettersen treats victims until he is covered in blood from head to toe. Until the ambulance ran out of supplies. He could have saved a dozen or more people.
Pettersen committed suicide on Jan. 18, 2021, at 31, after being unable to get help for himself.
Pettersen’s parents are looking for any of the strangers their son helped save. On the fifth anniversary of that Vegas night.
“We need to find all of the good that Scotty brought to this world. Because his life ends in such a traumatic and dark way, and we’re left with that,” said Scotty’s mother, Michele Pettersen, last week. “What a bright spot if he saved even one life.”
Scott and Michele Pettersen scattered some of Scotty’s ashes on the Hawaiian island of Maui. The final location the entire family was together was on Sept. 6. On the same day, they appeal in a Facebook group set up to connect the many unsung heroes of the Vegas shooting with the people they helped save.
“We are looking for any survivors who treated by our son, who commandeered an ambulance to save and protect his girlfriend. While also treating many gunshot victims who needed help,” read the post.
“His name was Scotty, and we lost him to suicide several years after the concert. Today is his father’s birthday, and we also laid Scotty to rest on Maui. If you could provide any information, we would be eternally grateful.”
So far, the post failed to locate any of the people Scotty assist. His parents hope that his large size, good looks, and other attributes will help him distinguish features and jog some memories.
Scott, who stood 6-foot-1 and weigh 200 pounds. He dressed in a short-sleeved Hawaiian button-up shirt with green leaves and pink flowers that night. He also had an eye-catching tattoo: an intricate sleeve running from his right elbow to his shoulder.
Pettersen and his blond girlfriend were treating patients in an ambulance parked in front of the Mandalay Bay hotel.
The Pettersens’ Facebook group brought together. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of survivors.
I know it’s a long shot, but if you know anyone who was at the shooting in Vegas in 2017, please share this article with them.
Vegas hero survived mass shooting but died of suicide; parents now looking for those he saved https://t.co/IV62NJFciJ via @USATODAY
— The Linds™ (@tha_linds) October 6, 2022
Robert Aguilar of Fontana, California, grew close to the Michigan man who saved his life after a car accident. After being shot in the ribs in Vegas, temporarily paralyzing him and requiring months of physical therapy and recovery.
Aguilar is also able to contact the woman who drove him and his then-girlfriend to the hospital at a time when every second counted.
“That weighed heavily on me,” Aguilar explain before thanking them.
“At the time, I was in the Army, never hurt like this,” he explained. “To go to a concert where you can’t protect yourself or the people you’re with because of something like that, and then have people do what they did… I needed to talk to them.”
According to Tennille Pereira, director of the Vegas Strong Resiliency Center, which connects those affected by the shooting with mental health services, people who survive a traumatic event, such as the Las Vegas shooting, can find healing by talking to other survivors.
“We’ve had people return to the UK and reach out to us, saying, ‘I feel so isolated.’I must speak with a knowledgeable person. “According to Pereira.
Unfortunately, she stated, not everyone seeks or accepts assistance.
Scotty Pettersen, however, never did.
“We pleaded with him to get help, but he refused,” Scott Pettersen said. “Scotty was the life and soul of the party. He is the one who made everyone turn around when he walked into the room. So, in everyone’s mind, Scotty is grown up and fine. And I believe everyone else did, but I can’t imagine being in his situation and not trying to talk to someone.”
Scott and Michele stated that they had no idea. What Scotty was going through and saw no signs of suicidal ideation. They believe his experiences in Vegas haunted him.
“I remember the faces,” Scotty told KIRO-TV. “I know what the guy who shot in the back looks like sometimes. That’s what I think about when I close my eyes.”
Aguilar said he had suicidal thoughts after the shooting and eventually sought help through therapy.
“There were times when I wondered why I still here on Earth,” he says—explains. Experienced survivor’s guilt in the months following the shooting.
The Pettersens state that their son had a similar experience. They claim he couldn’t bear looking at photos of the dead victims.
“He was terrified of looking them up and seeing their faces. Someone he helped because he might not have saved them. Perhaps he didn’t do enough, “According to Michele Pettersen.
