ONLY ON WWAY: Wilmington man was next to concert zone when shooting happened

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) – The mass shooting in Las Vegas is affecting thousands of people across the US. Wilmington is not out of that reach.

On Monday night, we talked with a local man who was next to the concert zone when the gunman opened fire.

David Green went to Las Vegas over the weekend to enjoy a concert and see his favorite music artists like those people at the Route 91 country music festival that was targeted.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Green said.

It all happened in a matter of minutes for Green. He was in Sin City for a couple of concerts and even got a chance to meet rocker John Fogerty. He was finishing his last night with one more walk down the Vegas Strip when gunfire erupted.

“They [police] didn’t know if he was in the crowd or on the strip or where he was,” Green said.

Just steps away from the country music festival, where one by one concert attendees were being gunned down, police told him to get out of the area. Not before Green saw first hand festival visitors hitting the ground.

“You think back about it, what you saw, people dying, you didn’t know it at the time and you just go, ‘God that could happen here,'” Green said.

He says seeing it all unfold was surreal. That feeling continued as daylight broke on the Strip.

“I talked to a police man this morning afterwards, and I asked, ‘Well what did you see? Because you were down there.’ And he said, ‘Man, it was horrific.’ He said people were falling left and right,” Green said.

What started as a spontaneous trip for fun leaves a sight of fear Green will always remember.

“This is something I’ll never forget,” he said.

Green says what happened in Las Vegas should change how much security and police presence is for outdoor events like the Route 91 festival.