UPDATE: This story has been updated to reflect that Tara Roe has now been reported to have died in the mass shooting in Las Vegas. See below for a G0 Fund Me site where you can donate to help the family.
Scott Yanko’s thoughts were elsewhere on Monday.
The Cowichan Valley Capitals business manager had his mind on three people he knew who were in Las Vegas during the mass shooting that killed more than 50 people and left more than 500 injured on Sunday night, including one who was still unaccounted for as of Monday afternoon. By Tuesday morning, the missing woman was reported to have been killed in the attack.
“It’s hard to focus, for sure,” Yanko said.
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Among the missing Monday was Tara Roe, who has since been confirmed to have died in the shooting. She was married to Yanko’s cousin, Zack. The Alberta couple was in attendance at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival that was attacked from the nearby Mandalay Bay Hotel. Zachary had contacted family members on Monday, but had not found his wife.
“I don’t know how they got separated,” Yanko said.
A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help support Zack and Tara’s two young children. Donate at https://www.gofundme.com/expenses-for-zach-and-the-kids
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Yanko also knew of at least two fellow graduates of Notre Dame College in Saskatchewan who were in Las Vegas on Sunday, including one who was at the concert. Both men were accounted for.
One British Columbia man, 28-year-old Jordan McIldoon of Maple Ridge, was identified among the dead.
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Police in Las Vegas have since identified the gunman as 64-year-old Stephen Craig Paddock from Mesquite, Nevada.
Local sheriff Joseph Lombardo has described the man as a “lone wolf” who was found dead in his 32nd floor hotel room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, likely from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Paddock had opened fire from his room, raining bullets down on a large crowd across the street attending Route 91 Harvest — a three-day country music festival taking place at Las Vegas Village, an open air venue on the Strip.
