The mystery man at the center of one of the most haunting images from the Las Vegas massacre has been revealed as a young US Army soldier who bravely ran into the danger zone to help others.

Matthew Cobos was photographed on Sunday night lying on top of a young woman in an attempt to shield her from the barrage of bullets tearing through the air around them.

The powerful image quickly went viral as news spread that a gunman had opened fire on the 22,000 country music fans at the Route 91 Harvest festival.

Cobos and the young woman ended up on the ground when panicked concert-goers tried to escape the deadly gunfire pounding down on them as the gunman fired from across the street on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay casino.

Matthew Cobos was photographed on Sunday night lying on top of a young woman in an attempt to shield her from the barrage of bullets tearing through the air around them

Cobos, who is a US Army soldier, eventually dragged the young woman to safety before bravely going back into the danger zone to help the injured. He is pictured above (center) with his sister and her boyfriend at what is believed to have been the Las Vegas concert

Amidst the terror, Cobos tried to protect the woman by bravely shielding her body with his own.

DailyMail.com understand Cobos also covered the blonde woman's eyes in a bid to stop her from seeing the carnage around them. The photo shows the moment his hand attempted to protect her face.

Moments later, Cobos and the woman got up and they ran to safety behind a nearby car.

When the photo first emerged, it wasn't clear if the woman was dead or seriously injured. But the man who took it, Getty photographer David Becker, revealed on Tuesday that the couple had managed to run away seconds after the photo was snapped.

However, DailyMail.com has since learned that once Cobos got the woman to safety, he then ran back into the danger zone to help others who had been injured.

He is understood to have used his belt as a tourniquet to stop people bleeding and even put his finger in bullet holes of some who had been shot.

Cobos also covered the blonde woman's eyes in a bid to stop her from seeing the carnage around them. The photo shows the moment his hand attempted to protect her face

Cobos has since told family and friends that he could hear and see the bullets ricocheting off the ground in front of him as he ran

Cobos (above with his sister) has been hailed a hero by friends and family after the full scale of his heroics emerged. He is believed to have plugged people's bullet wounds with his own fingers in an attempt to help them

Cobos has since told family and friends that he could hear and see the bullets ricocheting off the ground in front of him as he ran.

He is understood to be back home now with family in California. Cobos lives in Hawaii where he is a cavalry scout with the US Army.

The stories of bravery continue to emerge days after the deadly massage unfolded with reports of people fashioning stretchers out of fence posts and tarps and those who made tourniquets out of belts.

The staggering number of people injured in the shooting means their recoveries are likely to be as varied as the victims themselves.

Some injuries are as simple as broken bones, while others are gunshot wounds involving multiple surgeries and potential transplants.

All come with the added emotional scars of enduring the deadliest shooting in modern US history that left 59 dead, including the gunman.

At least 130 people remained hospitalized on Tuesday, with 48 listed in critical condition. At Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center alone, the count of those treated included 120 people who were struck by gunfire, a glimpse of the amount of ammunition unleashed in the attack.

The Getty photographer who took these photos said he could sense that people were panicked as they ran for cover, but he did not actually know it was gunfire until several minutes later