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Jason Aldean Pays Tribute to Victims of Route 91 Vegas Shooting on 4th Anniversary in Heartfelt Message

Country singer Jason Aldean took to his social media accounts on Friday (October 1) to pay tribute to the victims of the Route 91 Las Vegas shooting. It has been four years since the devastating event occurred.

“Hard to believe it’s been 4 years already. Thinking about our Route 91 family today. We love u guys! #foreverbonded,” Jason Aldean captioned the post, which featured a snapshot of a poker chip with route 91 on it along with angel wings around it. The phrase “Route 91 Warrior” is also in the image. 

On October 1, 2017, 64-year-old Stephan Paddock opened fire upon a crowd who was attending the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival. The event was held on the Las Vegas strip. Paddock was reportedly in his 32nd-floor suite of the Mandalay Bay Hotel as he was firing more than 1,000 bullets. 60 people were killed in the incident while 411 were wounded and around 867 were injured. This is considered the deadliest mass shooting that was committed by an individual in U.S. history. 

Jason Aldean previously mourned one of the shooting victims and his close friend, Ryan Fleming. 

Jason Aldean Opens Up About the Trauma He Experienced During the Route 91 Shooting 

During a 2019 interview with Kelly Clarkson on her self-titled talk show, Jason Aldean revealed more details about the trauma he experienced during and after the Route 91 shooting. “It’s obviously something that I wouldn’t wish on anybody,” he explained to Clarkson. 

The country singer then recalled going back to Las Vegas for another performance not too long after the shooting. “Going back to Vegas was something we wanted to do them right away. We didn’t want to go in and try to do it too soon. And we felt like there was going to be a lot of people at our show that probably hasn’t been to one of our shows or been to a concert since that show.”

Jason Aldean stated he and his crew wanted to make the show after the shooting a safer environment for all the concertgoers. “So we did Park MGM, a little five thousand seat arena. The other one was outside [for] thirty-forty thousand people, whatever it was. So this was a little smaller, a little more intimate where people could come [and] hopefully feel a little more at ease.”

Jason Aldean also revealed that he had to go back on stage days later for another concert. But speaking to his wife Brittany about his struggles definitely helped the most. “My wife was there. [She] went through it. My band was there. They went through it. My crew. Everybody. So we kind of leaned on each other. We’re on the other side of it now. We’re part of the Route 91 family. So it’s a cool group.”