Blood centers across California are seeing increased donations in the wake of the shooting in Las Vegas on Sunday night that killed 59 people and injured more than 520.
"We’re seeing a large number of people show up to our donation centers wanting to donate, wanting to help out, wanting to show their support for Las Vegas," said Kevin Adler with Blood Centers of the Pacific, which has six donation centers across the Bay Area. Adler said centers in Sacramento, San Luis Obispo and Ventura also saw upticks in donations on Monday.
Adler said donors were turning out, whether or not they were personally impacted by the massacre.
"We have people coming in who have friends and family who live in Vegas, who were on the Strip at the time of the events in Las Vegas, so there was a close, personal connection." Adler said. "We had people who were coming in with no ties to Las Vegas, who just want to help and show solidarity and support to Las Vegas."
The Blood Centers of the Pacific prioritizes supplying blood to local hospitals first, but Adler said California blood was already on its way to Las Vegas on Monday morning. He said it was unclear if more blood from California would be needed in the coming days because of high donation rates in Las Vegas itself, but he encouraged Californians to continue donating over the next several weeks in case more blood is needed.