'58 barstools empty': Country Thunder Arizona brings Las Vegas shooting victims together

The first signs that the people gathering at the back of the festival were survivors were their shirts, hats and belt buckles.

"Country Strong 10-1-2017."

"58 bar stools empty."

"Hey Jason, we are here to finish what we started."

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As they spotted each others' orange-ribbon tattoos and "Route 91 survivor" shirts, they began hugging, crying and consoling each other.

In all, more than 200 survivors of the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest country-music festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1 gathered at the back of the Country Thunder festival grounds Friday before sunset for an emotional reunion.

"Even though there’s that one evil person who thought they could tear us down, it's brought us closer together. We’ve all become part of a family," survivor Debbie Engel said.

An emotional night

The reunion came just hours before Jason Aldean was scheduled to take the Country Thunder stage in what is believed to be only his second outdoor festival performance since gunfire, chaos and bloodshed interrupted his set at Route 91.

"It's definitely going to be emotional, but I can't wait. Like my shirt says, 'I threw on these boots to finish his set,' " survivor Christine Antekelian said, pointing to her brown cowboy boots — the same ones she wore when running from the shooting.

Braving fear to find closure

Sunday marked six months since the shooting, which killed 58 concertgoers, injured more than 500, and traumatized the 22,000 who were at the festival.

"It’s been a daze. I’ve been stuck," said Mindy Ritter, a survivor from Casa Grande.

"Now I feel, especially with this, this is so healing," she said, gesturing at the sea of survivors around her.

"I’m getting chills so bad just seeing it. It’s crazy. We’re a family now."

Many of the survivors said this is their first time at a concert or a music festival since the shooting. The big crowds, rowdy attendees, loud noises and flashing lights have been stressful for those with post-traumatic stress disorder, but they also said it feels like an important part of the healing process.

"It was hard, especially yesterday when the sun goes down and they have the helicopters and drones. I know a lot of people are having a tough time. ... There are people sitting by the exits because that was one of the problems with the Route fest," Ritter said.

"I told my husband initially, 'I can't go' "

Wynette O'Kelley and 11 of her family members attended the Route 91 Harvest Festival. When the gunfire began, both her husband and her brother told her not to worry — it was just fireworks.

It wasn't until her husband saw bullets bouncing off of a pole that he realized what was really happening and told the family to duck and cover.

O'Kelley was with her husband, brother and sister-in-law in the VIP section. Her other family — including her two daughters — were in the general-admission crowd, and she had no way of knowing if they were OK.

When the shooting stopped, the group ran through the field. O'Kelley saw people lying on the ground and asked her brother why they were just lying there. She didn't realize, or didn't want to accept, that they were dead or wounded.

"I just kept thinking, 'God, please don't be my daughters. I know they're someone's daughters, but please don't be my daughters,' " she said.

After a chaotic couple of hours, all of her family was safely reunited.

O'Kelley said she and her husband go to Country Thunder every year, but she almost didn't this year.

"I told my husband initially, 'I can't go,' " she said.

But she knew Aldean would be there, and she really wanted to hear him finish his hit song "When She Says Baby" — the song he was singing when he was forced off stage by security during the shooting.

O'Kelley attended the survivor's reunion Friday afternoon dressed in a custom-made Jason Aldean T-shirt that read "58 bar stools" — a tribute to the dead. Wearing the shirt allowed other survivors to recognize her and bond over the pain of the past and pave the path toward closure.

"No one (can) understand unless you were there. You just can't possibly imagine," O'Kelley said.

Finishing the set they couldn't

Andrew Frank and his girlfriend, Christina Zuidema, are very familiar with country-music festivals. They've been camping out at multiday events for six years with a growing group of friends.

Every year, they don matching shirts, show off their line-dancing skills and make more friends who end up joining them at future festivals.

But something about Country Thunder this year was different.

It was the first festival they'd attended since the Route 91 Harvest Festival.

Frank and Zuidema, who are from California, were separated during the chaos and unable to reach each other for some time.

"You're not only wondering what is happening, but wondering if the other person is OK," Frank said.

They were eventually reunited. Zuidema said one of her friends was shot in the leg and still cannot walk.

This year, the festival group's matching tank tops were colored orange — the color of the Las Vegas festival's logo — in a show of solidarity with the victims and survivors.

Hundreds of people around campsites on Friday wore similar shirts with orange ribbons and the words "country strong."

Frank said he hopes Aldean's show will bring him and his friends some closure.

They never got to hear the ending of Aldean's set in Las Vegas. They hope to change that Friday night.

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