Shooting Survivors Want Jason Aldean to Finish His Route 91 Set: ‘It Would Be Healing’
Some of the survivors of the Route 91 Harvest Festival attack have teamed up with hopes of convincing Jason Aldean to finish his headlining set, which ended early and abruptly when a shooter opened fire on the crowd.
Aldean was closing out the Las Vegas event on Oct. 1, 2017, when the gunman began shooting, killing 58 people and injuring 800 more.
Tiffany Thomas was there, and as she tells KTNV, she has since created a Facebook group called “58 Survivors 1 Last Set" to bring other survivors together and get word to Aldean that they'd like him to finish his performance.
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"After it happened, all I could think about was Jason Aldean," Thomas tells the outlet. "I kept thinking he was up there, he was on that stage, he was singing for us."
Aldean will return to Las Vegas for the ACM Awards in April, and he's been announced as a performer during the show. But Thomas thinks if Aldean were to play a headlining concert that was open to survivors and families of the deceased, it would help to give some closure.
"It would just be so bonding and so amazing and so emotional and I think so healing,” she says.
Thomas, along with another fan named Gina McKin, even sent Aldean a Shutterfly book they made. Some of the pages are in honor of those killed at the festival, but others show the fun that was being had before Route 91 came to a tragic end. The book's 91 pages represent Route 91 Harvest, and the women hope that when Aldean opens their gift he'll know their hearts are in the right place. Some of the survivors wrote messages to Aldean, and while there's nothing to indicate he's planning a show, a representative for the singer tells KTNV they look forward to seeing the book.