BIG SANDY, Tenn. — One of the victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting will be laid to rest on Tuesday.
The family and friends of Sonny Melton will gather in the gym at Big Sandy High School to say farewell to a husband who died trying to save his wife after a lone gunman opened fire in Las Vegas.
“There was just a barrage of shots being fired,” Heather Melton told reporters. “Round and round and it seemed like an eternity.”
Sonny grabbed her from behind and started to run. He was reportedly pushing her to safety when the unthinkable happened.
“I felt him get shot in the back. He fell to the ground, and I just remembered seeing people all around me on the ground, and I was trying to talk to him and he wasn’t responding.”
He died at a nearby hospital.
Sonny was a nurse, father and husband, and his death leaves a gaping hole in the small community he left behind.
“He knew everybody in it and everyone knew Sonny,” Benton County Sheriff Kenny Christopher told WBBJ. “So a big piece of this community is gone, and there’s no way to fix that.”
The community is reportedly gathering around the family to support them in their time of need.
