Brian Kelley Prays Over Empty Las Vegas Lot, Site of Route 91 Massacre
Florida Georgia Line's Brian Kelley may have anticipated a room with a view when he got to Las Vegas for the ACM Awards, but he didn't expect this.
The superstar says he lost his breath when he pulled back the curtains on his hotel room window to reveal the site of last October's Route 91 Harvest Festival — the parking lot where 58 people were killed and more than 800 left injured by a gunman who fired into the crowd from above.
"Every day I've taken some time a couple times a day to pray over this lot, the lost, and all of the families and fans effected by this terrible act," Kelley says in a post on Instagram. "I’m learning in my life it’s better to face the uncomfortable, the fear, the crazy, head on."
"Had no idea this was gonna be our view for a couple days here in Vegas for the ACMs, but I’m glad it was," he admits.
In a room nearby, his duomate Tyler Hubbard and his wife, Hayley, also took a moment of silence ahead of the awards show. "We prayed for everyone that had to endure the horror of that awful night, for our children and their children — that they never have to experience anything like this in their lifetime, and that there is resolution soon,"" Hayley writes on her Instragram account.
Florida Georgia Line weren't on the bill at 2017's Route 91 Fest, but their friend Jason Aldean was actually onstage when bullets began flying. The victims of the attack will be front of mind when artists step into MGM's Garden Arena for Sunday night's 2018 ACM Awards. Kelley shares that country's biggest names will wear pins representing the 851 people injured, the 58 lives lost and a number '1' pin, signifying that the community is together as one.
The show airs at 8PM ET on CBS.
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