October 1st, 2017 will be one of the most humbling dates to go down in history. On that day, Stephen Paddock took out all his hate for humanity on the people attending the Route 91 Harvest festival, in Las Vegas, Nevada. From his suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay, which overlooked Las Vegas Strip, Paddock used heavy firepower to take 59 people’s lives and injured over 500 others, but from this tragic inhumane occurrence, stories of selfless heroism slowly start to emerge.
From people using their bodies to shield their loved ones to others going out of their way to assist strangers in connecting the victims back with their family members, to people using their cars (and in some cases even stealing a car) to urgently transport the victims to the hospital, stories of courage have not scarce, as once again humanity is able to show their best in the face of tragic and unjust evil.
As Paddock opened fire on the innocent concert goers and mayhem took over, a group of security guards took it upon themselves to locate the source of the gunfire. Jesus Campos, an unarmed security guard with the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, was the first to locate Paddock’s room, according to ABC News.
Stephen Paddock had the whole floor rigged with security cameras, so he saw Jesus coming, firing a round of bullets through the door, getting Mr. Campos in the leg. This wouldn’t stop our hero though, as he continued by himself to put pressure on the shooter while at the same time radioing in his location to the casino dispatch, who were at feeding the information back to the police.
Once Jesus Campos made sure the police had pinpointed Paddock’s location, he started limping door to door in the 32nd floor, clearing out other guests from their rooms and into safety. Without Jesus’ quick thinking and bravery, who knows how many others would have lost their lives by Paddock’s actions.
After Stephen Paddock was neutralized, Jesus Campos was taken to the hospital for his injuries, once ABC News was able to make phone contact with our hero, he calmly told the network “I’m fine, I was just doing my job.”
No, Jesus Campos was not just doing his job, he went above and beyond the call of duty. Where others would have justifiyably run away from the danger, Campos put his life on the line to save hundreds if not thousands of other vulnerable concert goers.
Campos’ co-worker, Lilian Rodriguez started a GoFundMe page for our hero, because it will take a while for Campos to recover and be able to get to work, so it’s only fair that this courageous American warrior can take his time to recover comfortably, without him having to worry about not being able to pay his medical bills. If you want to donate for Jesus Campos, do so here.