Tory Starr, social media director at WGBH, was attending a family wedding in Las Vegas this weekend and was staying on the 27th floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel. Stephen Paddock, who shot and killed 59 people at a country music concert on Sunday night, attacked the crowd from the 32nd floor.
Starr was not in the hotel during the attack — she left the Mandalay shortly before the shooting occurred to see a show a few blocks away.
“We were really lucky and we made a decision that took us out of that situation," she said. "When you just think about the smaller decisions you make that would have put you in a completely different situation.”
Starr and her sister-in-law sheltered in place for several hours in the tent where they had watched the show, along with the rest of the audience, she said. The two retrieved their belongings at the Mandalay on Monday, and she described the scene at the hotel hours after the shooting as “eerie and quiet.”
To listen to the interview with Tory Starr, click on the audio player above.
