Former Marine Who Stole Truck To Transport Las Vegas Victims Just Received This Message From The Owner

Last Sunday night, the worst mass shooting in recent U.S. history occurred on the Las Vegas strip, during the Route 91 Harvest music festival. Though the crowd of 22,000 was slow to respond to the barrage of gunfire which seemingly appeared from nowhere, activists afterward were quick to offer aid and transport the wounded to nearby hospitals. One such individual was 29-year-old former marine Taylor Winston.

Winston told CBS News: “People started scattering and screaming and that’s when we knew something real was happening. The shots got louder and louder, closer to us and saw people getting hit, it was like we could be hit at any second. Once we got to the fence, I helped throw a bunch of people over, and got myself over. It was a mini war zone but we couldn’t fight back.”

After escaping the arena which was being fired upon by 64-year-old Stephen Paddock from the nearby Mandalay Bay hotel, Winston grabbed the keys he found in an unlocked pickup truck and used it to save people’s lives.

“I saw a field with a bunch of white trucks. I tested my luck to see if any of them had keys in it, first one we tried opening had keys sitting right there. I started looking for people to take to the hospital,” Winston said. “There was just too many and it was overwhelming how much blood was everywhere.”

Winston loaded some of the most critical victims and sped to Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center — all before ambulances arrived on the scene. While it is unknown whether or not many people survived, the former Marine is being hailed as a hero nonetheless.

Three days after the harrowing events, the truck’s original owner reached out to Winston. The exchange between the two can be viewed below. Fortunately, it’s all “water under the bridge.”

The former Marine believes his military training came in handy.

“I think a lot of my training in the military helped me in the situation. We needed to get them out of there regardless of our safety,” he said. He also admits he is “100 percent lucky” he was not killed or injured.

Winston doesn’t consider himself a hero, as many other people risked their lives to save others. “There was a lot of bravery and courageous people out there. I’m glad that I could call them my country folk,” he said.

Former Marine Taylor Winston stole a truck to drive over 30 people to the hospital after Stephen Paddock fired bullets into a crowd of 22,000 people.

Credit: Taylor Winston

3 days later, the truck’s owner reached out:

Credit: creepycatpms

Winston made two trips with the truck and drove over 2 dozen people to emergency care.

Credit: CBS News

It’s unknown how many people survived, but he is being hailed as a hero nonetheless.

Credit: Taylor Winston

Others have made it clear they wouldn’t mind if he had “stolen” their car — it was for a necessary reason, after all:

h/t CBS News, Bored Panda