At 11:23 p.m. Sunday, Arizona Wildcats defensive end Justin Belknap received a text message from his mother, Anna.
Did you hear about what happened tonight in Vegas?
Belknap soon learned that there had been a shooting at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas, his hometown. He cracked open his computer. He checked every social-media outlet. He furiously texted his friends.
“I was very alarmed and confused, scared for my family’s and my friends’ well-being,” Belknap said Wednesday. “I knew a good amount of people at that concert.”
Fifty-nine people were killed and more than 500 were injured when Stephen Paddock fired on the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Festival from a suite at the Mandalay Bay Resort.