Bay Area Witness to Las Vegas Carnage: 'Was This My Last 5 Seconds?'

A Contra Costa County man caught in the chaos of Sunday night's shooting attack on a country music festival in Las Vegas said the scene was terrifying, bloody -- and surreal.

Brett Eastwood of Discovery Bay said early Monday that he and two friends were watching Jason Aldean perform at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, 30 or 40 feet from the stage, when he started hearing popping.

"The first thought I had was, 'It's fireworks,' " Eastwood said. "I go to events all the time and you hear people do stupid stuff. I 100 percent did not think it was gunshots."

But soon he saw Aldean and his crew scramble to leave the stage, and the popping sound returned. This time, Eastwood saw people near him falling to the ground as if they had been shot -- so he and two friends ran under a nearby set of bleachers.

"You just heard rounds after rounds after rounds. People screaming," he said. "You don't know if there's one shooter or 15 shooters. We had no idea what was going on. You just know that people are screaming."

Eastwood said it felt like the shooting went on for 15 minutes. There was a pattern of gunshots, a short 30-second pause, and then the shooting would resume.

Las Vegas officials say at least 58 people died in the attack, apparently carried out by one gunman who fired on the crowd from the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

Eastwood said he saw people around him get shot and watched as bloodied concertgoers were tended to by friends.

"I just kept thinking, 'Was this my last five seconds? Does it really come down to this?'" he said. "You're not going to know when that bullet hits you."

As the shooting continued, he debated with his friends whether they should stay under the bleachers or make a run for it. Ultimately, they decided to stay until they stopped hearing gunshots. Then they ran.

"It was just insane. It was crazy. Even when you're running, you just don't know ... is that next bullet you?" he said.

Eventually, Eastwood and his companions made it to safety.
"You see this on the news, or you hear about it," Eastwood said. "But to have this unfold in Vegas, it was just the craziest thing."

"About 20 or 30 minutes after the shooting, I’m walking through MGM Grand, and I’m watching people playing blackjack and poker and craps," Eastwood said. "And I’m sitting there going, 'Do they not realize there was just this massacre 200 yards away across the street?' The casino was still open. I was blown away."