Mike Ljubić is in a medically induced coma.
Mike Ljubić is an American Croat who was wounded in yesterday’s massacre in Las Vegas. The crane driver living in San Pedro was shot in the back while he was using his body to protect his wife during the massacre at a country music festival in Las Vegas. 59 people were killed, and more than 500 people were wounded. It was the largest mass murder with firearms in modern American history, reports Index.hr on October 3, 2017.
Ljubić, a 41-year-old employee of the Port of Los Angeles, underwent two surgeries yesterday morning. He is currently in a medically induced coma that should last between 24 and 48 hours, but is expected to survive, reports Daily Breeze.
Ljubić and his wife Michelle were part of a group of port workers who attended the festival for the third year in a row. One of them, 43-year-old John Iacono, described the horror and chaos when the shooting began. “We were on the left side of the stage when we heard the gunshots. But, like everyone else, we initially thought it was fireworks. Then Doug Cotter, one of our friends from the port, started running and yelled that he was shot. We immediately all got down to the ground,” he said.
“When the shooting stopped for a few seconds, we got up, and Michelle saw that Mike was hit. She helped him get up and started to run. Every time the gunfire started again, we would get down to the ground,” said Iacono. Eventually, they climbed over a fence and hid under a car as they tried to avoid the gunshots.
A motorcycle stopped by the road and took some of them away. Later, Ljubić was transported to the hospital. Iacono says that Ljubić and his wife were “incredible” while trying to protect each other. “I feel terrible because of all the people who did not survive. I will never forget what I saw,” said Iacono.
The terrorist attack was carried out by a lone wolf, identified as Stephen Paddock (64), who attacked the audience at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, which was attended by some 22,000 people. He fired the gunshots from his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel at the Las Vegas Strip.
Police said Paddock had not committed crimes before. It is not known why he carried out the attack. They think that he acted independently.
Paddock killed himself before the police burst into his hotel room from which he fired the shots. The sheriff stated that 16 firearms were found in the room.
Translated from Index.hr.
