In the aftermath of the deadliest shooting in modern American history, millions of dollars have been raised to support victims’ families as they cope with the sudden loss of loved ones.
Four Canadians were among 58 killed at a country music concert in Las Vegas as shooter Stephen Paddock opened fire from a window of the nearby Mandalay Bay Hotel. Another 546 people were injured.
An outpouring of grief has turned to compassion. Dozens of online fundraisers have been launched in memory of those killed and to help victims recovering from the attack.
Here are fundraising campaigns for the Canadian victims and survivors of the Oct. 1 shooting.
Jordan McIldoon
Mechanic Jordan McIldoon of Maple Ridge, B.C. was remembered by his grandmother, Ann Norman, as a man with a big heart who worked hard, loved his family and looked after his girlfriend.
Las Vegas resident Heather Gooze said in a Facebook post that McIldoon died in her arms. She described the tragic scene in an emotional interview with CNN.
“I had my hand over his hand, and I could kind of feel his fingers wrapped around my hand,” Gooze said. “I felt like a squeeze on my fingers, and then I just felt the fingers go loose.”
She said the concert venue was not unlike a warzone once the gunfire started, with people using ladders and other objects as makeshift stretchers to evacuate the wounded. Another man nearby, she recalled, was kneeling beside his dead wife, unwilling to leave for safer ground.
Gooze said she eventually managed to unlock McIldoon’s iPhone after he died by asking Siri to call his mother.
“We called his mom. I said, ‘I promise you, I swear to you, that I will not leave him. I will stay with him until this is over,’” she said. “I just didn’t want him to be a John Doe.”
McIldoon will be remembered as a compassionate, adventurous, and loving young man. He was a few months shy of finishing a heavy duty mechanic apprenticeship, loved extreme sports and the outdoors, and was “rarely seen out of his cowboy boots,” according to a statement released by the family on Tuesday.
“From the people who stayed with Jordan that night and held his hand, to the first responders who had to rush in to an unimaginable scene, we would like to thank everyone for their incredible love and support,” the family wrote.
Jessica Klymchuk
Jessica Klymchuk of Valleyview, Alta., was visiting Las Vegas with her fiancé when she was killed in the attack. She leaves behind four children.
The school division said Klymchuk worked as an educational assistant, librarian and bus driver for St. Stephen School in Valleyview, Alta.
Calla Medig
Calla Medig, 28, of Jasper, Alta. was taking time off from her job at a west Edmonton Moxie’s restaurant to enjoy Las Vegas with her roommate.
Longtime friend Lyndsay Perham said Medig will be remembered as strong and loyal.
“She had a heart of gold,” Perham told CTV Edmonton. “She would do anything for her friends.”
It’s not the first time tragedy has struck the Medig family. Calla’s brother was killed in a car collision many years ago.
Tara Roe
Tara Roe, 34, of Okotoks, Alta. died while she and her husband were visiting Las Vegas with another couple.
A friend of Roe said she was a kind, loving and joyful person who was always open to help anyone in need.
She worked as a model and an educational assistant in the Calgary area.
Roe grew up in Brandon, Man., where family friend Loretta Hamilton said the community is heartbroken.
“Brandon is missing a beautiful star and she was going to do good things in the world so somebody will have to pick that up for her and carry it,” Hamilton told CTV Manitoba.
Sheldon Mack
Sheldon Mack of Victoria, B.C., was hit by multiple bullets and was placed in intensive care unit after surgery for a ruptured colon.
Mack told CTV Vancouver Island that he was standing in front of the middle of the stage with friends when he thought he heard fireworks. After that, he was shot in the gut, hip and forearm.
“I just panicked and looked for anybody who could help me and I had my friend use his belt as like a tourniquet and cut off the blood,” he said. “It all happened crazy fast. It seemed not real.”
His father Hudson Mack, a well-known B.C. broadcaster, said his son had been in Las Vegas celebrating his 21st birthday.
Braden Matekja
Braden Matekja of Lake Country, B.C., was with his girlfriend Amanda Homulos when he saw someone get shot in front of him.
“I just yelled at my girlfriend to get down and let’s run,” he told CTV Toronto from his hospital bed.
Mateka said he suddenly felt like he had been “hit with a sledgehammer or a baseball bat in the head.”
He dropped to the ground and then stood up feeling “disoriented.” He then realized there was blood “spurting” out of the back of his head from a gunshot wound.
“One guy took his shirt off and wrapped it around my head and wrapped it nice and tight while the other two helped me as we ran to the edge of cover,” he said.
Ryan Sarrazin
Also reported injured in the attack was Ryan Sarrazin, who was raised near Spiritwood, Sask., and lives in Camrose, Alta.
