LAS VEGAS, NV (WRIC) — Richmond City Councilman Andreas Addison was just a few blocks away from the Mandalay Bay hotel when the shooting started.

Addison told 8News he was in Las Vegas for vacation. He said the lobby of his hotel, The Cosmopolitan, turned into complete chaos after the shooting.

“People were running like a stampede of people from the street,” Addison said. “I guess as the gunshots were being heard and people were trying to get to safety.”

He said around midnight he received an alert on his phone about an active shooter and then that’s when the chaos began.

“Some people ran, some people just tried to hide,” Addison said. “I hid, I didn’t want to run and add to the stampede of people running because I just saw people falling down and I just didn’t want to get hurt or hurt somebody else.”

As people ran to seek shelter and safety, Addison said emotions got the best of them.

“It was so real watching people just out of fear, just cry,” Addison said.

For him, it was after the shooting that was so surreal. He said the typically loud and lively Las Vegas turned quiet.

“It was dead quiet,” Addison said. “I mean you couldn’t hear really anybody or anything. You’d occasionally hear a police car drive by or an ambulance, but even then it was just really quite and surreally kind of eerie to be honest with you.”

He said being there to witness such tragedy is still something he’s trying to comprehend.

“It’s definitely a different story,” Addison said. “It hits you closer to home. Makes you appreciate life a little more.”

Addison returned to Richmond on Monday but said that his return was planned prior to the shooting.

This is a developing story. Stay with 8News online and on air for the latest updates.

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