British Columbia

21-year-old Victoria man recovering in Vegas ICU following deadly shooting

Offering prayers for those he couldn't help and gratitude to the people who helped him, Sheldon Mack recounts the chaos of the tragedy in Las Vegas from his hospital bed.

Sheldon Mack is the son of former CTV news director and anchor Hudson Mack

Sheldon Mack was celebrating his 21st birthday when he was shot twice. He is recovering from major surgery in a Las Vegas intensive care unit. (Chris Corday/CBC)

A 21-year-old Victoria, B.C., man who was celebrating his birthday in Las Vegas is recovering in hospital after being shot at the Route 91 Harvest music festival on Sunday night.

Sheldon Mack — son of Hudson Mack, a former news director and anchor with CTV Vancouver Island — was shot twice and is recovering in an intensive care unit.

Mack was attending the outdoor concert with friends when a gunman opened fire on the crowd from the 32nd floor of a casino.

"Two guys about five rows up from us that I saw, they were done for. They were down," he recalled. 

'I've got 2 bullets in me'

Mack estimated he was about 40 rows back from the front of the crowd when he heard the bullets, which he thought were fireworks at first.

He saw members of the audience lying on the ground while others fled for the exits before he was shot in the abdomen. 

Mack said he was trying to help a group of young women who were "in a bad way," when he was hit again, in the arm. 

"I've got two bullets in me," he told CBC News. 

He recalls one of his friends using a belt as a makeshift tourniquet to stop the bleeding from his arm, but when he caught sight of all the blood he said he was scared he would die.

"I was bleeding out pretty quick from my arm and then like, kind of felt myself looking away and just woke up and wasn't sure what was going to happen."

Several Canadian victims

By Monday afternoon, officials had confirmed at least 59 people were killed and 527 injured.

At least two Canadians were killed and four others injured in the attack, which is being called the worst mass shooting in modern United States' history.

Jordan McIldoon, 23, of Maple Ridge, B.C., and Jessica Klymchuk, a 34-year-old mother of four from Valleyview, Alta., were among those killed when a gunman opened fire on a large crowd near the end of the outdoor festival on the Vegas Strip.

Two Manitoba women and two Saskatchewan men are also in a Las Vegas hospital. One of the men was shot in the head and is unresponsive.

Another Saskatchewan woman in her 30s from the same group was shot in the foot.

Global Affairs Canada said a team of consular officials will be in Las Vegas to work closely with U.S. authorities and provide support for Canadians involved in the attack.