Injured Indio teacher shares story of Las Vegas shooting
At roadside memorials along the Las Vegas Strip, people continue the write well wishes to those who were injured in Sunday night’s mass shooting. One those injured is and Indio teacher who survived with the help of her husband, her cousin, and numerous Good Samaritans.
“It’s a gunshot wound people recover from this and as long as they don’t come closer to me I’m ok,” said Alexis Arias, teacher at Amistad High School in Indio.
Arias was shot in the upper thigh, her pelvis was cracked and her husband applied pressure as Arias, her husband, and her cousin rushed for cover as bullets rained down from the Mandalay Bay Hotel.
“If you would have told me that they were 5 feet away, I would have believed it. They sounded like they were just in walking distance of us. I just kept praying to God just make them go away,” Arias said.
Dozens of complete strangers helped get Arias the medical treatment she so desperately needed.
“I remember hearing people say “I’m a firefighter” or “I’m a nurse” or “I’m a Marine,” so people were coming to my aid immediately,” Arias said. “They were helping my husband and cousin carry me, I had 4 people on me at all times.”
She was rushed to Sunrise Medical Center, just a couple miles away from the shooting.
Watch: KESQ / CBS Local 2’s Joe Galli speaks with a Sunrise Medical Center doctor about saving lives
I heard people coming in with worse situations, so in a way, it calmed me to know that they were working on other people who needed the help,” Arias said. “It calmed me to know that they judged me that I was ok.
Arias is recovering faster than she thought she could. She can stand and walk with the help of a walker. She credits thoughts of her three children back in Indio as the motivation that keeps her going. Arias also credits the love and support from so many coworkers and students she’s known over her 10 years teaching and coaching.
Watch: Amistad High School staff reacts to teacher shot at Harvest Festival
“It’s just beautiful that they all have reached out to me and kept me in their hearts and thought and I have students from when I was just 19 years old who have reached out to me and sent me they well wishes,” Arias said.
Arias says the medical professionals in Las Vegas have been top notch and relentless in getting the hundreds of people who were injured the care that they need.
“They have been more than just nurses, they have been friends and family,” Arias said.
Alexis Arias returns home to the Coachella Valley Wednesday. She says one thing that she will continue to do as a teacher is to teach her students that she can stop hate with love.
More: I-Team and Stands for You investigations
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