Family Of Beaver Co. Native Shot In Las Vegas Says Retired Firefighter Was Her Guardian Angel
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The condition of a Beaver County native critically injured in the shooting attack at a concert in Las Vegas is slowing starting to improve.
The woman's daughter says after a night of uncertainty, her mom is responding to them when they visit her in the intensive care unit.
CBS's Danielle Nottingham has the latest from Las Vegas --
First, they heard popping noises and then realized they were among thousands of easy targets for a gunman shooting into the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas.
Paige Melanson and her mother, Rosemarie Trautman Melanson, a native of Baden, Beaver County, were among the gunman's first victims.
"It was within that first round of constant gunfire that I had realized that I was bleeding, and my mom had already been laying there," said Paige.
Paige was shot in the elbow.
She saw her mother lying on the ground and thought she had gotten low to avoid the gunshots. But Rosemarie was lying face down and not responding.
"We rolled her over and realized that she was wounded in the chest," said Paige.
Like others scrambling to safety, Paige realized she needed to run, but did not want to leave her mother. Then, she says a retired firefighter screamed at her at her and her sister.
"'If you want to live, you need to get out of here,'" she said he told them.
The firefighter promised Paige that he would not leave their mother, and it appears that he kept his word.
Eleven hours later, she found her mom in the ICU at Sunrise Hospital.
"I believe he was her guardian angel and he was meant to be in front of us because he saw that we were all a complete wreck with my mom just laying there," Paige said.
Paige and her relatives visited Rosemarie at the hospital on Monday night and got some really good news.
"We went and visited her and she did the same thing, fluttered her eyes for us and she nodded when we asked her if she understood that we were here," said Paige. "Even that baby step was huge and momentous last night."