Wife of Vegas Victim: 'He Saved My Life and Lost His'

'I'm in complete disbelief and despair,' says Heather Gulish Melton of husband Sonny
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 2, 2017 12:30 PM CDT
Wife of Vegas Victim: He Died Saving Me
The scene after the deadly attack in Las Vegas.   (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

One of the first victims to be identified from the Las Vegas mass shooting is a male nurse from Tennessee who had gone to the country music festival with his wife. What's more, his wife credits him with saving her life. "At this point, I'm in complete disbelief and despair," Heather Gulish Melton tells Nashville's Fox 17 of her late husband, Sonny Melton. He "was the most kind-hearted, loving man I have ever met," she said, adding, "He saved my life and lost his." She didn't provide further details about how her husband died. He was one of at least 58 people who were killed Sunday night when a gunman opened fire on the musical festival on the Vegas strip.

Sonny Melton worked as a nurse at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in Jackson, reports the Jackson Sun. His wife is an orthopedic surgeon, and she had previously posted a photo of the couple wearing Eric Church shirts, the headline act of the three-day festival, reports the New York Post. Gulish Melton wrote on Facebook that she "lost my true love and knight in shining armor" Sunday night. "I appreciate the prayers but I just need some time.” (The gunman's brother says the family is "dumbfounded" about the massacre.)

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