Sonoma State Student Recovering After Being Shot In Las Vegas Massacre

(KPIX 5) -- A Bay Area college student was among the more 500 people injured in the mass shooting in Las Vegas that killed at least 58 people.

Paige Gasper is a student at Sonoma State University who is now recovering in the intensive care unit of a Las Vegas hospital.

Her friends at Sonoma State say it's hard to imagine. "It's kind of, like, shocking, impactful," said her friend Evelyn Ortega. "Someone that we know personally going through that."

Gasper was set to graduate in May, works three jobs and still made the dean's list. She and six other college friends were at last night's Jason Aldean concert when shots rang out.

Her mother said she was shot on the right side of her body while Aldean was still on stage playing.

Gasper was one of the lucky ones, considering the death toll. She's alive and will heal from a liver laceration and fractured ribs from the bullet, along with 15 staples on the gunshot wound.

Those who weren't at the concert - or who made it out unscathed - still felt the effects. Almost everyone arriving back in the Bay Area from Vegas Monday morning had a story to tell.

For one traveler, it was a close call that may have saved his family's life. "We had our three-day passes to see Jason Aldean ... we ended up staying home," said Andre Walters. "One of my son's friend of a friend was killed yesterday... the family is pretty devastated."

There were also a number of stories of people performing heroic acts, such as the person who grabbed Gasper, and threw her into the back of a pickup to take her to the hospital.

Other Good Samaritans blocked people off from the fallen Gasper and her group so the wouldn't get trampled by the crowd of people running away from the scene.

 

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