A Rhode Island State Police detective was attending a country music concert in Las Vegas when a gunman opened fire on the crowd. Conor S. O'Donnell, 26, called his father, former State Police Supt. Steven G. O'Donnell, as the shooting unfolded.
"I spoke to him as it was happening. Kind of a crazy phone call to get in the middle of the night from your son who explains things to you that there's an active shooter and you can hear the rounds going and trying to tell me he's OK," the retired head of the state police told WPRO-AM in a phone interview.
At least 58 people were killed and more than 500 others were injured in Sunday night's attack on concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. That number of casualties makes it the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
O'Donnell, a six-year veteran of the State Police, was not injured in the attacks, Col. Ann Assumpico, Supt. of the Rhode Island State Police, confirmed.
Steven O'Donnell told WPRO that he awoken by the call every parent dreads, and the seasoned cop turned into a frantic parent as he heard "pop-pop-pop" in the background. Steven says O'Donnel assured him he was safe and told him to turn the TV on, then they lost contact for about an hour.
The retired colonel says that once the O'Donnell got his girlfriend to safety, his son then worked to help the injured.
"We also were proud to learn that he joined several other off-duty police officers who assisted victims at the scene," Assumpico said in a statement.
