Victims of Las Vegas Massacre Named as at Least 59 Confirmed Dead

At least 59 people have been killed and 527 injured as gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire above a crowded country music festival across from the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

On Monday, devastated loved ones began sharing the names of the victims.

Sonny Melton, Quinton Robbins, Jordan McIldoon, Jessica Klymchuk, Lisa Romero, Denise Salmon Burditus, Sandy Casey, Rachel Parker, Susan Smith, Angie Gomez, Bailey Schweitzer and Adrian Murfitt were among those killed in what is now the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Not long after shots rang out at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a friend of Sonny Melton, 29, wrote on his Facebook page.

“Hoping y’all are ok man!!!”

But soon condolences poured in by the hundreds to Melton’s Facebook page, with many commenting on his last post, checking in to the concert.

Melton was at the show with his wife, Heather Gulish Melton, who confirmed to USA Today that Melton was among those who lost his life in the massacre.

“I want everyone to know what a kind-hearted loving man he was, but at this point I can barely breathe,” she wrote to USA Today.

Gulish Melton told WCYB that her husband saved her life during the shooting.

“At this point, I’m in complete disbelief and despair,” she said. “I don’t know what to say.”

When the shots rang out, Melton grabbed his wife and began running, she said.

“He grabbed me and started running when I felt him get shot in the back,” Gulish Melton told WSMV.

Melton lived in Big Sandy, Tenn., where he worked as a registered nurse at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital, according to his Facebook page.

He and Gulish Melton celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary in June.

“We were the couple that never should have met, fallen in love or had a future together....but life is funny and we believe God brought us together as soul mates,” their wedding website said. “We have shared amazing times together and nearly unbearable heartaches but through it all we have grown stronger in our love for each other and our families. We thank God every day for this relationship and the support and love of our families.”

The aunt of Quinton Robbins also confirmed that he was among those who lost their lives in the shooting.

“With an incredibly heavy heart. My sweetest nephew has passed away,” Kilee Wells Sanders wrote on Facebook.

Robbins, 20, of Henderson, Nev., was a student at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, according to his Facebook page.

He worked as a recreational assistant for the city of Henderson.

“He was the most kind and loving soul,” Wells Sanders wrote. “Everyone who met him, loved him. His contagious laugh and smile. He was truly an amazing person. He will be missed by so many, he is loved by so many. So many awesome talents. I can’t say enough good about this sweet soul.”

Robbins was also remembered for his generosity toward others and his dedication to his family.

“He was an amazing young man who had a huge heart and would do anything for anyone,” Robbins’ aunt Doreen Hawk-Wells wrote on Facebook. “He overcame health issues and did not let them interfere with living his life to the fullest. Please pray for our family, especially his parents and siblings. I can't begin to imagine how they will deal with this. I love them with all my heart and wish I could take all the hurt and pain away.”

Robbins enjoyed being there for those he loved, including coaching his little brother’s flag football team, family friend Tyce Jones toldNewsweek.

The 20-year-old student also dreamed of one day becoming a father and having a family of his own, his loved ones said.

“Suppose to be our best man and godfather one day,” his friend Ally Cooley wrote on Twitter. “Dreamt of kids playing t-ball together and growing up together. Beyond painful.”

Jordan McIldoon, of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, would have turned 24 this Friday.

A woman named Heather Gooze posted on Facebook that she stayed with McIldoon as he passed away.

“I am right outside the festival grounds,” she wrote. “We are not allowed to go anywhere. I am with a young man who died in my arms! RIP Jordan mcildoon from British Columbia. I can’t believe this just happened!!!”

Her account could not be immediately verified.

McIldoon’s parents, Al and Angela McIldoon, confirmed their son’s death to CBC News.

“We only had one child,” they said. “We just don’t know what to do.”

McIldoon was attending the music festival with his girlfriend. They were supposed to return home Monday.

His parents remembered McIldoon as a “self-described cowboy boot, tattoo-covered redneck who loved the outdoors.”

McIldoon was a heavy-duty mechanic who was about to start trade school.

Jessica Klymchuk, 28, of Alberta, Canada, was attending the music festival with her fiancé when she was shot.

The single mother-of-four worked as a school librarian and a bus driver, her grandmother told The Globe and Mail.

Just a week before the shooting, Klymchuk’s fiancé posted a photo of the pair smiling, writing, “You and me together is my favorite place to be.”

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson both shared their condolences over the death of Klymchuk.

"Our hearts are all broken,” Iveson said in a tweet. “We will rally for Jessica’s children and family.”

Denise Salmon Burditus, 50, shared a photo of her and her husband of 32 years, Tony, at the festival on Facebook about 9:30 p.m. local time — just minutes before shots rang out.

Burditus reportedly died in her husband’s arms.

“Are you two ok????” a friend posted on Burditus’s Facebook.

According to her Facebook, Burditus lived in Martinsburg, W. Va.

“College student and semi-retired,” she wrote on her page’s “intro.”

She and her husband frequently posted photos of their adventures together, including their most recent trip to the music festival in Las Vegas.

“I just keep looking at the cool beautiful pictures both you and Denise have been sharing of all the fun you were having in Vegas and at the festival,” a friend wrote on Tony Burditus’s Facebook. “Your loss is unfathomable. Thoughts and prayers to all of you guys.”

Lisa Romero-Muniz, of New Mexico, was attending the music festival when she was killed.

Romero-Muniz worked as a discipline secretary in the Gallup School District, which confirmed her death in a statement.

“She was not only an employee of our school district, but was an incredible loving and sincere friend, mentor and advocate for students in many of our schools,” the district said. “As a colleague, she was also outgoing, kind and considerate of all those she worked with and we will miss all of these great attributes she shared with students, staff and parents in our community.”

Romero-Muniz was also remembered as a loving wife, mother and grandmother.

“This was one awesome woman,” a friend wrote on Facebook. “Please God be with her kids, grandbabies and family. You’re forever missed Miss Lisa.”

Rachel Parker, who worked as a records technician at the Manhattan Beach Police Department in California, was killed. She was among four off-duty department employees attending the concert Sunday, police said.

She was rushed to a local hospital, but could not be saved. She was 33 years old.

“She was employed with the Manhattan Beach Police Department for 10 years and will be greatly missed,” officials said.

Sandy Casey was a special education teacher at Manhattan Beach Middle School for nine years, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“She is loved by students and colleagues alike and will be remembered for her sense of humor, her passion for her work, her devotion to her students, and her commitment to continuing her own learning and to taking on whatever new projects came her way,” the Manhattan Beach Unified School District said in a statement. “She has made a tremendous difference in the lives of her students and their families, many of whom worked with her over multiple years.”

Susan Smith, 53, was remembered as a wonderful woman, an advocate for children and a friend by those who knew her best in Simi Valley, where she worked as a school office manager.

She had worked for the Simi Valley Unified School District since 2001 was described as the heart of the school, according to the Ventura County Star.

The passionate country music fan was married with two children, according to reports.

Tributes poured in for Smith after word of her death spread.

“She was so kind, always had a smile, and her humor and sweet spirit shone through her every interaction,” a friend posted on Facebook.

“She was so incredibly sweet, positive, helpful, and just a delight to everyone she worked with,” another wrote. “Such a loss. I am praying for her family. She will be so missed by so many.”

Angie Gomez, who had graduated high school just two years ago, was also among the dead, her school’s PTSA said.

“We received word this morning that 2015 alumnus Angie Gomez, was involved in the Vegas shooting last night. While details are still emerging, we did receive confirmation that Angie succumbed to her injuries,” the Riverside Polytechnic High PTSA in Riverside, Calif., wrote on Facebook.

“Please join me in lifting her and her family up in prayer,” the post continued. “She will always be loved and endeared by our Poly Family.”

Bailey Schweitzer, 20, of Bakersfield, Calif., also lost her life in the massacre.

Her father, Bakersfield Speedway owner Scott Schweitzer, confirmed her death to local news.

Friends shared photos of the young woman to Facebook, writing Schweitzer “was and IS so incredibly loved!”

“Bailey was a Centennial High School graduate, she was goofy, outgoing, loved by so many, and she is going to be terribly missed... she was a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, and amazing aunt... she was 20 years old,” a statement on a page created to establish a meal train for her family read.

The Schweitzer family was among the many traveling to Las Vegas to claim their loved one’s body.

Fisherman Adrian Murfitt, 35, was with his best friend watching Jason Aldean play when he was struck and killed, his devastated friend told reporters.

“We were taking a picture and it went through his neck,” Brian MacKinnon told Alaska Dispatch News.

Fellow concertgoers tried to help Murfitt, a commercial fisherman from Anchorage, but he could not be saved.

“There’s a lot of amazing people — there was nurses, doctors, fireman,” MacKinnon said. “Everybody who was at that concert really jumped on it, did everything they could. We just couldn’t save him.”

"Sadly he died in my arms," MacKinnon wrote on Facebook. "I don't really know what else to say at this time. I'm really sorry."

Source: Inside Edition