KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
On the three year anniversary of the Las Vegas shooting, several residents from Santa Clarita who were injured during the incident are set to receive part of an $800 million settlement with MGM.
On Oct. 1, 2017, Stephen Paddock opened fire on a crowd of people at the Route 91 Music Festival in Las Vegas, firing over 1,000 rounds over an estimated 11 minutes, which killed nearly 60 people and injured hundreds more.
“I’m trying to hide from it and not remember it,” said Cesar Ranuschio, owner of Body Shop 661, who was shot in the chest during the shooting. “I’m really grateful and happy that I’m still here, but then all the blood and the pictures start coming back, and I just don’t want to remember it.”
For Susie LaPorte, a Santa Clarita woman who was shot in the back, the emotions surrounding that day are not limited to just Oct. 1.
“It starts a couple weeks before. It seems like I dread it, I know it’s coming,” she said. “It’s just very emotional. A lot of anxiety and a lot of different emotions just hit me.”
Ranuschio and LaPorte were two of at least a dozen Santa Clarita residents injured in what is considered one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern American history. Additionally, Santa Clarita resident John Phippen was killed during the shooting.
“Today is a sad day,” LaPorte said. “It’s just a lot of sadness. I don’t even know what else to say.”
See Related: Las Vegas Shooting Victim, Santa Clarita Man Cesar Ranuschio Expected To Make Full Recovery
While LaPorte says that she will forever live with the “new normal” of being “triggered” by things such as large crowds, she has found comfort and support from interactions with other survivors.
“I think that when we are in groups of people who have been to Route 91, we are a family,” she said. “We understand each other, and we just get it. You feel comfort.”
Ranuschio echoed a similar sentiment, urging survivors of the Las Vegas shooting to “stay strong,” as “things will hopefully start to look up.”
“We’re one of the ones who made it,” he said. “We’re really lucky.”
On Wednesday, a judge approved an $800 million settlement to go towards over 4,000 claimants in a class action lawsuit against MGM, who own the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino that Paddock shot at the crowd from.
Owen, Patterson & Owen (OPO), a Santa Clarita-based law firm, filed the first lawsuit against the shooter’s estate on behalf of the Phippen family in October 2018, and represents over 100 of the claimants in the suit.
“What a difficult day today is, even though three years have passed,” said Susan Owen, managing partner for OPO. “We are pleased with the settlement, but these people will never be the same, after being in what was such a traumatic event.”
The exact amounts going to each claimant are set to be determined independently by a pair of retired judges agreed to by both sides.
“I am hoping that our clients will feel a sense of closure, but I feel very torn about it,” Owen said. “I know that deep in their hearts, they will always remember this day, and every October 1st.”
While Owen was not personally in attendance at the Route 91 Music Festival, the shooting still touched her in a personal way. Her best friend was at the event that night, and “continues to jump every time she is startled by a noise” to this day.
“When you listen to your clients and their pain, you can’t help take that on, and I have never in my 30-plus years of practicing law been so involved in a case,” she said. “It is so, so heartbreaking.”
LaPorte thanks God for her survival, and chooses to focus on the good things in the world rather than the bad.
“It’s amazing how much love is actually out there in the world,” she concluded. “A bad person did this to all of us, but I have to sit down and I have to think that there are way more good people out there. There’s more good humans out there than there are bad. I think we have to look at that and focus on that more.”
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Guess it pays to get shot at.
That’s not very nice what you said. Our family is still suffering from the trauma. We do not and did not expect any kind of “compensation” for my mom being shot. Money is not worth anyone’s life. We are thankful and blessed that we are all still here. Money cannot make up for what happened. We do not deserve it. We are just happy that everyone is still alive. I wish that KHTS didn’t make this the headline because that’s not really what’s going on. Those are just numbers between the thousands of people that were hurt. I hope that you and your family never have to go through a tragedy like this. The trauma and ptsd is not worth it. God bless you and your loved ones.
Think at least one of these guys could loan me, say, $1000? ?