Couple Who Survived Vegas Shooting Perish In Car Crash
Credit: New York Post
Original Article | Author: Yaron Steinbuch
A couple who survived the massacre at the Las Vegas music festival were killed in a fiery traffic accident two weeks later, according to a report.
Dennis and Lorraine Carver of California died when their vehicle smashed into a metal gate outside their community in Riverside County and burst into flames Oct. 16, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
When they came under fire at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Vegas on Oct. 1, Dennis jumped on top of his wife to shield her from the withering hail of bullets.
“That’s just the kind of love they had for each other,” Brooke Carver, their oldest daughter, told the paper. “Their love was selfless.”
During a lull in the gunfire, the couple ran for their lives, hand in hand, and emerged unscathed.
The couple, who owned a plumbing company, returned to their home two days later with a newfound appreciation for life.
“After the shooting, they heard from all of the people they cared about most. They were so happy,” said Brooke, 20. “The last two weeks of their lives were really just spent living in the moment.”
But luck was not with them for long.
On the night of Oct. 16, the couple’s younger daughter, Madison, 16, heard a loud bang outside her window, ran down the street and saw a familiar vehicle engulfed in flames.
Dennis, 52, and Lorraine, 53, were killed less than half a mile from their home.
“We were so relieved when they got out of the shooting alive,” Brooke told the Review-Journal. “But I also think we’ve been given little pieces of them that we would’ve never gotten if the shooting hadn’t happened right before they died.”
Three days after the worst mass shooting in US history, Brooke said she was on the phone with her dad. They asked about each other’s plans for the weekend.
“‘Hey, you think I should get roses or different flowers for your mom?’” she said he asked her — though there was no special occasion.
“He just wanted to give my mom a reason to smile after the shooting,” she said. “I swear they were more in love those two weeks than the last 20 years.”
Almost a month later, she said, not a single petal had fallen from the wilted roses.
“It’s almost as if they’re frozen in time,” her sister added. “We’re so lucky we have those flowers to remind us of them.”
A week after the devastating accident, the daughters received a package containing their father’s cellphone, which had been lost during the pandemonium in Vegas.
“When we turned it on, all his photos and messages were still there,” Brooke said. “This is how we know they’re looking down and watching over us.”
Madison added: “We’ve found some peace in knowing that our parents just loved each other so much that they had to go at the same time. They couldn’t live without each other.”
