Many thought Las Vegas gunshots were fireworks, witness said

Elisha Espejo knew that the sounds she was hearing weren’t fireworks, and the few extra seconds that realization offered were enough to allow Espejo and her friends to escape the Route 91 Harvest concert just in time.

Espejo, 23, and a group of friends were at the eastern side of the stage when “all of a sudden you just heard rounds going off.”

“A lot of people thought they were fireworks, but I’ve grown up shooting guns so I kind of knew what was going on,” Espejo said. “I told my friends, ‘We have to get out of here.’ ”

They ran to the nearest exit even as “you could just keep hearing shots continuing to go off,” Espejo said. They made it to the eastern, airport side of the venue and hid behind crates for “probably a good 20 to 30 minutes” until the shooting stopped.

“I still don’t feel like it’s real,” said Espejo, who hasn’t been able to sleep since the shootings.

“You see things like this on TV, never thinking it would happen here, where you are. And for it to happen, it just doesn’t seem like it’s possible.”