'He Was Going To Take My Bullets': Metro Atlanta Couples Share Vegas Stories

ATLANTA, GA -- Couples from metro Atlanta are sharing their stories after surviving the massacre in Las Vegas this past weekend. Finally back in Georgia and out of harm's way, locals who were around the Mandalay Bay Hotel Sunday night are speaking out, and like authorities, searching for answers.

Paulding County couple Mark and Beccie Riggor were in Vegas staying in a nearby hotel when they decided to go to a country concert during their stay. That's when a gunman sprayed the crowd and turned it into a killing field. When it was over, nearly 60 people were dead and more than 500 were injured. (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

The Riggors said that they were on the scene when Stephen Paddock, a wealthy real estate investor, declared war on Americans relaxing on the Vegas Strip. Mark Riggor said when the gunshots rang out, he immediately shielded his wife.

"I was on top of her and we pretty much told each other goodbye," Mark Riggor told WSB-TV.

"He covered me all the way," Beccie Riggor told the TV station. "So he was going to take my bullets."

Also nearby were Cobb County couple Kristen Lee Barrett and boyfriend Jeroan Bailey, who were in Vegas to celebrate his 30th birthday when they witnessed the tragedy. They went to the Mandalay Bay the night before the rampage and were thinking of going to the concert, but decided against it.

They said they were locked down in a nearby hotel when the shots rang out. Amid the choas, their thoughts raced.

“You felt like a sitting duck,” Barrett, 29, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Our stomachs were turning," she said.

"No one knew how many shooters, anything about the shooters, if it was a personal thing or if you were picking off people," she was quoted as saying.

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Barrett told the newspaper that they made it back to their hotel about 1 a.m. and dozed off. Whenever they woke up the body count jumped. She said when she finally got some sleep and awoke the next morning, she had 30 text messages and 10 missed calls.

Who is Marilou Danley, Vegas shooter's girlfriend? 5 facts

Authorities are involved in a massive investigation to find clues about the Vegas killer. On Wednesday, law enforcement switched their attentions to the live-in girlfriend of Paddock, Marilou Danley, who arrived in LAX from the Philippines on Tuesday night.

Image via AP Photo / John Locher