Las Vegas Shooting: Mom Tells How She Protected Young Daughter: Video

LAS VEGAS, NV — When sharp sounds began rippling through the crowd Sunday during the final act of the three-day Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas, Carly Krygier thought fireworks were being set off. But when people in the estimated crowd of 22,000 began yelling “get down,” Krygier threw herself on top of her young daughter to protect her when she realized the sounds were deadly instead of celebratory.

By the time the assault was over, at least 59 people were confirmed dead and more than 500 were wounded. Krygier and her daughter are among those physically unscathed, but she told CNN she worries about how she will explain the carnage to her daughter. (For updates on the shooting and daily news from Las Vegas, sign up for the Patch morning newsletter and breaking news alerts.)

Krygier was near the back of the crowd when gunman Stephen Paddock began his massacre, called the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Police found at least 17 weapons in Paddock’s hotel room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, more guns and ammunition during a search of his home in an upscale retirement community in Mesquite, Nevada, and several pounds of ammonium nitrate — a compound used in bomb-making, including the one in the deadly 1995 Oklahoma City bombing — in his car.

“We just heard what we thought were fireworks, and it took everybody a couple of seconds to realize it wasn’t. And that’s when everybody just started yelling, ‘Get down!’ So I put the baby on the ground and got on top of her,” Krygier told CNN. “And when we heard a little break, we ran to the bleachers that were just behind us, and I tried to tuck her as close to the end, so she was protected as possible.”

Krygier has discussed with her friends the conversation she will have with her daughter about the tragedy.

“It’s so abstract for her; everything is matter-of-fact,” Krygier said. “She was amazing and so incredibly brave, and not once did she cry or scream or ask what was going on, so I think she’s going to be OK. It’s just an odd, unfortunate thing that happened to her.”

Here’s a photo of Krygier and her daughter from Facebook.

Photo: Investigators work the scene Monday, a day after after a mass shooting at a music festival near the Mandalay Bay resort and casino on the Las Vegas Strip. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)