Bay Area residents talk about being in Las Vegas during shooting

TAMPA (FOX 13) - Planes returned to Tampa from Las Vegas carrying people whose lives were changed by their proximity to the most catastrophic shooting in American history. To them, only bullets could break the illusion of Las Vegas.

"I heard what I thought was fireworks," said Shannon Lacina of Clearwater. "Quickly I found it wasn't as I saw the cops rushing by. People were frantic, I saw a couple of people had blood all over them."

She came back Monday afternoon, after what was supposed to be a weekend jaunt at the MGM Grand.

"All of a sudden, people started running and screaming in our hotel, so right away I thought he's in our hotel, so I am running and I hid behind slot machines."

She woke her friend Brittany Carey of Largo, who was napping in their room during the gunfire. They made sure their door was locked and they stayed away from the windows until morning.

"When we came down there were people sleeping in the lobbies, all the bars, pillows, blankets everywhere, because everybody at the Mandalay had to leave," said Carey.

Dajana from St. Petersburg was in the MGM Grand when she heard there was an active shooter.

"We panicked. I was shaking for like 10 hours. The first thing I did was start praying for everyone," she said. "I have never seen so many people running, so many people frantic, people running into other people's hotel rooms."

Sharon Peters and her husband had been at Mandalay Bay for another show. A half hour after she left, the gunfire came.

"The police were diligent in taking care of everybody," she said. "That was a really good thing, to make sure everyone was secured. It's sad. You never know."