Couple who survived Las Vegas mass shooting die in car crash

Dennis and Lora Carver were among thousands of people who found themselves caught in the middle of chaos after gunfire erupted at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1.

The California couple survived the mass shooting unleashed by a lone gunman from high atop the Mandalay Bay hotel. The massacre left 58 other concertgoers dead and about 500 injured.

"Thank you to everyone that has reached out to me, my parents were both at the Route 91 music festival tonight and were standing directly where shots were being fired,'' wrote their daughter Brooke Carver, who is studying business law at Arizona State University, on Facebook the next day. "A poor man right next to my dad was shot in the leg, that's how close they were.''

Lora Carver herself wrote on Facebook a few days later that her husband, Dennis, had shielded her during the shooting.

But their story of survival took a tragic turn just two weeks later.

The couple was killed in a fiery car crash on Oct. 16, near their home in Murietta, California, according to multiple news accounts out of California. The Los Angeles Times reported the car had veered from a highway, striking two brick pillars before exploding in flames.

Brooke Carver confirmed the tragedy in a heartfelt post on Facebook Oct. 20, saying she and her sister Madison's lives had been changed forever and expressing her love for her parents.

"Our mom and dad prepared us for this battle,'' she wrote. "My mom always said we don't let bad things affect our lives, we move on and be happy, me and Madison are going to do just that by living the greatest lives we can because that's what they would want.''

Brooke, who attends the W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU, told The Arizona Republic she and her sister weren't quite ready to say much more publicly, preferring to let the social-media posts speak for now.

Earlier this week, Brooke and her sister started a gofundme page in their parents' memory.

On that page, Brooke recalls how on the night of the mass shooting, her mother still took the time to Facebook message back and forth with people from the Temecula Bike Train, a regular community bike ride for children that takes place at several elementary schools in the Murrietta and Tumecula areas of California.

Brooke said the proceeds from the money raised on the gofundme site will go toward purchasing new bicycles for children in need through the organization. The goal initially was to raise $5,000, but the outpouring was so strong, that was increased to $10,000. As of Thursday evening, more than $6,000 had been raised for the cause.

Brooke, on that site, says one of the last things her mom told her was how she intended to support the group, recalling her mother's words: "It's gonna be my new hobby, I'm gonna go around and collect bikes, it's gonna be my little project.''

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