{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.heller.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=2472FA37-FEA5-42FB-97F5-B1F40E2E4263", "In Case You Missed It: A New Las Vegas Has Risen", "2017-10-18", "2017", "2017-10", "Republican", "House", "NV", "Dean Heller", "H001041", "www.heller.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 In a speech delivered on the U.S. Senate floor this evening, U.S. Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) honored the victims of the Las Vegas shooting, and applauded the many heroes who emerged that night and helped respond to the tragedy. Click HERE to watch the video.\r\n[Click here or the above image to watch]\r\nHeller\u2019s speech arrives shortly after the U.S. Senate unanimously passed his bipartisan resolution, introduced with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) that commemorates the victims of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, on October 1st, 2017. The resolution, which can be found\u00a0here, also recognizes the bravery of all first-responders, law enforcement officials, and emergency medical technicians on the scene, as well as the countless staff at local hospitals and hotels who assisted in the response. Below is Heller\u2019s speech as prepared for delivery:\r\nMr. President, I rise today still in shock and mourning over the events of October first, when 58 people \u2013 some of them Nevadans, many of them visitors to our state \u2013 were brutally gunned down by a madman on the Las Vegas Strip.\u00a0 In addition to those horrible deaths, almost 500 people were injured.\u00a0 Many of them face a long road to physical recovery, and an even longer and more painful road to emotional recovery. I know I speak for all of my Senate colleagues in praying for them and wishing them the quickest recovery possible.  This madman\u2019s actions devastated our city but I rise today to tell you that that sense of devastation is being replaced by a renewed sense of community, of family, of unity, of faith, and of strength.\u00a0 I have had the honor of experiencing it firsthand, in the eyes and the voices of those who survived and those who chose to stay in harm\u2019s way to help others when they could have fled to safety.\u00a0 I have seen and heard this renewed sense of community and strength in the faces of our first responders, none of whom had ever encountered anything as horrific as the carnage of October first but who plunged into the danger to save lives.\u00a0 Because that\u2019s what they do. I had the privilege of meeting a Las Vegas police officer, Sergeant Jonathan Riddle, who was stationed a block from the shooting scene doing traffic control.\u00a0 When he first heard the popping noises, like most of the concert-goers, he thought it was fireworks.\u00a0 But the second volley told him otherwise, and his training kicked in.\u00a0 He grabbed his rifle and sprinted toward the chaos.\u00a0 Now, keep in mind: this police officer knew, through his training, that heavy-caliber bullets were being fired and that his protective vest would not stop them.\u00a0 He also knew that his rifle was useless, because the shots were coming from Mandalay Bay and he couldn\u2019t shoot at a hotel for fear of hitting an innocent bystander.\u00a0 So he was, for all intents and purposes, defenseless.\u00a0 He knew it.\u00a0 But he ran anyway.\u00a0 He ran toward the violence.\u00a0 He ran toward it with one purpose: to help.\u00a0 Any way he could.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost not fair to single him out because dozens of Metro police officers did the same thing.\u00a0 Firefighters, paramedics, and ambulance drivers also. And it was not just professional first responders who emerged as true heroes on October first.\u00a0 Taylor Winston, a Marine, was just trying to enjoy the concert that night.\u00a0 But when the bullets started raining down, he was driven by his training, his instincts, and his compassion for his fellow human beings.\u00a0 He helped several people over a fence where they took cover but he realized the danger wasn\u2019t over.\u00a0 Looking around, he spotted a pickup truck with a long bed.\u00a0 He \u201cborrowed\u201d the truck, loaded the back of it with injured people and rushed them to the hospital.\u00a0 But he wasn\u2019t done.\u00a0 He made a return trip, loaded the pickup again with individuals wounded and got them to the hospital. Jack Beaton\u2019s last act on earth was one of sacrifice and heroism.\u00a0 He draped himself over his wife, protecting her from the deadly bullets.\u00a0 He told her he loved her, then was hit and died in her arms. Jonathan Smith shouted warnings when he realized what was happening, but when some people were too stunned to move toward safety, Jonathan moved toward them, getting them out of the line of fire.\u00a0 That\u2019s when Jonathan himself was hit.\u00a0 He survived, but will likely always have a bullet lodged in his neck.\u00a0 It\u2019s a painful reminder of his heroics but I hope it always reminds him of the people he saved. And John, a cab driver, accelerated toward the screams and the chaos and shouted for a frightened group of girls to jump in his cab, and he drove them to safety.\u00a0 Then John turned around, drove back to the shooting scene, and transported another group to safety.\u00a0 In all, John possibly saved eleven lives. There was a woman at the concert, a respiratory therapist, who had her cell phone shattered by a bullet\u2026while the cell phone was in her hand.\u00a0 Shards of hard plastic tore through her hand and imbedded in her skin.\u00a0 What did she do?\u00a0 Pulled the shards out of her hand, bandaged herself up, and rushed to the hospital where she worked to try to help people more badly injured.\u00a0  At our local hospitals, doctors and nurses worked miracles around the clock.\u00a0 When operating rooms were not available, they treated the wounded in hallways.\u00a0 Surrounded by shouting, crying, chaos, and blood, they saved one life after another after another.\u00a0 Their skill, their composure, and their dedication to saving lives was stronger that night than the evil intentions of a madman with a rifle.\u00a0 I was walking the hallway of one of our hospitals with the hospital\u2019s CEO when a woman rushed toward him, grabbed him by the arm, and through tears and sobs, thanked him for the work his staff had done.\u00a0 Her niece had been wounded, but was heading home.\u00a0 She said she could never thank the hospital staff enough. In the aftermath, the community banded together to provide every resource possible to victims and their families.\u00a0 The Las Vegas Convention Center\u2019s South Hall was dedicated to family reunification and support services. Airlines answered the call to provide free flights to the families of victims. Hotels and casinos across Las Vegas offered free rooms. The American Red Cross partnered with the Mirage to host a blood drive.\u00a0 Millions of dollars have been raised by local businesses and people across the country to support the victims. The employees of Mandalay Bay and other MGM Resorts properties were understandably stricken and horrified by the shooting but they, too, asked how they could help.\u00a0 And instead of being frozen by their shock and grief, they mobilized.\u00a0 Donating blood, offering help to the families of the victims, organizing memorials and otherwise coming together as a team, motivated by compassion and selflessness and providing comfort and solace.  True leaders have emerged in the wake of this tragedy.\u00a0 My friend, Sheriff Joe Lombardo, head of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, has been steadfast in this crisis.\u00a0 He will always be remembered as a rock solid presence when our city most needed one. And let me say this, for the world to hear:\u00a0 our great city will not cower in fear because of this horrible act.\u00a0 We will mourn, we will heal, we will comfort each other, we will pray.\u00a0 But make no mistake about it \u2013 Las Vegas is open for business.\u00a0 Las Vegas will not simply go on, we will thrive.\u00a0 So come to Las Vegas, and maybe come away with a greater appreciation of what our city\u2026our people\u2026are all about.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0  From the blood and the terror and the carnage of October first, a new Las Vegas has risen.\u00a0 We have never shied away from our image as the city of entertainment.\u00a0 Our hospitality defines us. But the world has now seen a side much more profound \u2013 something we have always seen. A home.\u00a0 A family.\u00a0 A community of people who will stand by each other during the darkest moments.\u00a0 A community of people bound by faith who will stand in the face of danger to protect a neighbor, a friend, a family member\u2026or someone they\u2019ve never met.\u00a0 Everyone around the world has heard of Las Vegas.\u00a0 The very name conjures images almost immediately.\u00a0 Its skyline cannot be mistaken for any other.\u00a0 Yet, prior to October first, almost no one knew the true Las Vegas.\u00a0 The Las Vegas we are seeing now.\u00a0 A city that responds to cowardly violence with love and compassion for each other.\u00a0 A city that responds to hatred with faith and strength.  Las Vegas Strong.\u00a0 It\u2019s a slogan we\u2019re now seeing on billboards, marquees, and t-shirts. But behind that slogan is a story of true strength.\u00a0 A story of a city growing, emerging, and becoming closer and more united.\u00a0 A deranged man with a rifle brought death and carnage and terror to Las Vegas.\u00a0 But today Las Vegas stands stronger.\u00a0 Las Vegas stands unafraid.\u00a0 Las Vegas\u2019 true identity has been revealed and it is one of compassion and heroism.\u00a0 It is my hope that we will honor the memory of those lost by holding on to the sense of unity and family that has emerged since October first.\u00a0 That we will, all of us, continue to be Las Vegas Strong. God bless the city of Las Vegas, the state of Nevada, and God bless the United States of America.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \r\n\u00a0###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.heller.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=2472FA37-FEA5-42FB-97F5-B1F40E2E4263"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9908489882946014, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}