Las Vegas shooting victim says he owes his life to his girlfriend
LAS VEGAS -- Michael Caster was one of the wounded during Sunday's Las Vegas mass shooting. He says he owes his life to his girlfriend, who made sure he was carried to a stranger's car and taken quickly to a hospital.
"I was on the ground and I couldn't move," Caster said. "I had no feeling from the torso down."
Shortly after the photo below was taken, 41-year-old Caster was shot through his lung. The bullet hit his spine, just missing his heart. His girlfriend, Tawny Temple, found a table to use as a gurney and others helped her carry him to a stranger's car.
"People were telling me, 'Just leave, they'll come back for the survivors.' And I was like, 'I'm not leaving him,'" Temple said.
"By the time we got out to the hospital my lungs were already full," Caster said.
"With blood?" Diaz asked.
"With blood, yeah," Caster said.
Caster is one of more than 500 shooting victims who survived Sunday's rampage.
Tina Frost, 27, is in a coma and currently on a respirator.
"The bullet went in through her right eye. But there was no brain swelling, which is very good," said Tina's mother, Mary Moreland.
There is only heartbreak for the families who lost loved ones.
Rocio Guillen leaves behind four children. The youngest was born six weeks ago. Chris, her 13-year-old son, loved seeing mom at his football games.
"I'm not going to be able to hear her in the crowd again. And like, that was my last memory of her, like, cheering me on," Chris said.
Steven Berger had come to Las Vegas from Minnesota to celebrate his 44th birthday.
Hairdresser Stacee Etcheber was a mother of two.
Heather Alvarado ran a day care center in Utah.
Caster said he too might have died if his girlfriend hadn't gotten him to the hospital so quickly.
"Mike, if Tawny wasn't there?" Diaz asked.
"Well, I did take a bullet for her. So she was just paying me back, so," Caster said jokingly as Temple laughed. "No, I don't know, you know? I might not have made it."
Part of Caster's lung had to be removed. He faces a long road to recovery, but he said doctors have told him that with time and physical therapy he will be able to walk again. He and his family are looking for any alternative or experimental treatments that could help.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for Caster.