LAS VEGAS -- A former Harrisburg woman says she narrowly missed going to the Las Vegas music festival where a gunman killed at least 58 people Sunday night.
Dessie Dunkin, who lived in Harrisburg until 2003 and now lives in Las Vegas, had plans to attend the Route 91 Harvest Festival at Mandalay Bay until her husband Darin asked her to stay home.
"I was going to go to the concert and my husband talked me out of it," Dunkin said. "He told me maybe I needed to wait because his mom is sick and he wasn't sure if he would have to go be with her."
She said she's thankful she stayed home.
"I am glad I decided not to go because my two babies could have wound up with no mom," Dunkin said. "I stayed home, but I've been up all night worried about all those families and kids just running, trying to get out of harm's way. It brought tears to my eyes."
She said she and her husband had a friend in attendance at the concert who is still trying to locate other friends who were there.
Dunkin, who might be better known in Saline County by her maiden name, Dessie Clifford, said the shooting has had a chilling effect on her.
"It makes me uncomfortable to even leave my house, just seeing all the police and hearing the sirens going off," she said.
Dunkin said she's a stay-at-home mom to the couple's two children. Darin is a Department of Veterans Affairs employee and a disabled veteran, having served 9 1/2 years in the U.S. Navy.
She said she still can't imagine she could have been at the scene of the shooting, now apparently the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
"I'm feeling blessed and thankful I didn't go. I'm very sad about all who lost lives and got hurt," Dunkin said.
"It really does shake a person up knowing they were going to go. It really makes you want to kiss and hug your kids and your husband a little tighter each and every day because it can happen to anyone in the blink of an eye. My prayers and thoughts go out to all lives lost and all who got hurt."
