Las Vegas massacre survivor searching for "angel" she says saved her life

LOS ANGELES - Five years after the mass shooting at the Route 91 Music Festival in Las Vegas claimed the lives of 58 people, new stories are still emerging. 

"You’ve given me something I haven’t had, and that’s giving back from that night," Claudia Rico said in a Zoom interview from her home in Tennessee. 

Rico recently shared with FOX 11 a short clip of what was likely the last happy moment of Laura Shipp's Life. Shipp was one of the 58 killed on Oct. 1, 2017. That night, Rico took a rare selfie as she and her group rocked out to Jason Aldean. In that selfie, the perfect shot of Shipp. 

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Just days before the fifth anniversary of the massacre, Rico found Shipp's sister Tracy and send her the clip. Tracy Shipp called the video an answer to her prayers, a chance to see her sister before bullets rained down on the crowd.  "Those were the last moments of her life," she said.
"She’s laughing, she’s singing… it was good." 

FOX 11’s story about her reaction to the video soothed Rico's survivor’s guilt. But she says she’s still on a mission. She believes, that she’s alive today because someone in the crowd running from the gunfire, was hit and collided with her. 

"Bullets were flying and I thought that was it," Rico said. "…Moments later, someone behind me just slammed into me and we both go down.

She lay under the motionless body, the person’s blood soaking into her clothes. Eventually, she was able to slide out from under the body, leaving behind her Smith and Wesson hat and her sandals. 

"I’m not the type of person to leave someone," Rico said with emotion. She’s been hoping someone might know the person she calls her "angel." If the person died, she wants the family to know that the person wasn’t alone.

There aren’t many clues. The FBI’s evidence map shows where the dead lay on the concert grounds, marked with yellow cards. The area where Rico fell shows no marker. But she knows that in the chaos, the injured were picked up by civilians or first responders and taken to hospitals. Some recovered there, some died.

The only other clues she can offer are a couple of blurry shots of the plaid the person wore and a shot of the location where they fell on a photo from the night before.

Rico said she knows she might never find the person who she believes saved her life, but perhaps she can find the family. 

"I want to meet them. I want to thank them," she said. "They saved my life. I want to apologize for leaving them, because that's not like me."

If you have information for Rico, reach out to FOX 11 with your contact information and we'll forward it along to her.