Woman wounded in Las Vegas mass shooting dies after two years of treatment – The Independent

Posted: Published on November 20th, 2019

This post was added by Alex Diaz-Granados

A woman who spent two years in a nursing facility recovering from spinal injuries she suffered in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history has died.

Kimberly Gervais could become the 59th fatality in the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting, depending upon the coroners verdict.

The 57-year-old was one of at least 800 people injured as Stephen Paddock unleashed more than 1,000 rounds of bullets into crowds at the Route 91 Harvest music festival on 1 October.

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Police officers raided Paddocks high rise room in the Mandalay Bay Hotel on the Vegas strip minutes after the gunfire stopped, where they found he had killed himself.

Ms Gervais had attended the festival with two friends, one of whom was killed in the massacre, her sisterDena Sarvela told KPTV.

People scramble for shelter at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gun fire was heard

Getty

People carry a person at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after shots were fired

David Becker/Getty

People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gun fire was heard

David Becker/Getty

A handout photo released via Twitter by Eiki Hrafnsson (@EirikurH) showing concertgoers running away from the scene (C) after shots range out at the Route 91 Harvest festival on Las Vegas Boulevard

EPA/Eiki Hrafnsson

People lie on the ground at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after hearing gun fire

Getty

A man in a wheelchair is taken away from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after hearing gun fire

David Becker/Getty

People stand on the street outside the Mandalay Bay hotel near the scene of the Route 91 Harvest festival on Las Vegas Boulevard

EPA/Paul Buck

FBI agents confer in front of the Tropicana hotel-casino after a mass shooting during a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip

Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus

Las Vegas police run by a banner on the fence at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival grounds after shots were fired

David Becker/Getty

An injured person is tended to in the intersection of Tropicana Ave. and Las Vegas Boulevard after a mass shooting at a country music festival

Ethan Miller/Getty

Metro Police officers pass by the front of the Tropicana hotel-casino after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip

Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus

A woman sits on a curb at the scene of a shooting outside of a music festival along the Las Vegas Strip

AP/John Locher

A cowboy hat lays in the street after shots were fired near a country music festival in Las Vegas

Getty

Las Vegas Metro Police and medical workers stage in the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard South after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip

Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus

Sheriff Joe Lombardo (2-R) speaking during a press briefing in the aftermath of the active shooter incident on Las Vegas Boulevard

EPA

People scramble for shelter at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gun fire was heard

Getty

People carry a person at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after shots were fired

David Becker/Getty

People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gun fire was heard

David Becker/Getty

A handout photo released via Twitter by Eiki Hrafnsson (@EirikurH) showing concertgoers running away from the scene (C) after shots range out at the Route 91 Harvest festival on Las Vegas Boulevard

EPA/Eiki Hrafnsson

People lie on the ground at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after hearing gun fire

Getty

A man in a wheelchair is taken away from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after hearing gun fire

David Becker/Getty

People stand on the street outside the Mandalay Bay hotel near the scene of the Route 91 Harvest festival on Las Vegas Boulevard

EPA/Paul Buck

FBI agents confer in front of the Tropicana hotel-casino after a mass shooting during a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip

Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus

Las Vegas police run by a banner on the fence at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival grounds after shots were fired

David Becker/Getty

An injured person is tended to in the intersection of Tropicana Ave. and Las Vegas Boulevard after a mass shooting at a country music festival

Ethan Miller/Getty

Metro Police officers pass by the front of the Tropicana hotel-casino after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip

Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus

A woman sits on a curb at the scene of a shooting outside of a music festival along the Las Vegas Strip

AP/John Locher

A cowboy hat lays in the street after shots were fired near a country music festival in Las Vegas

Getty

Las Vegas Metro Police and medical workers stage in the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard South after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip

Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus

Sheriff Joe Lombardo (2-R) speaking during a press briefing in the aftermath of the active shooter incident on Las Vegas Boulevard

EPA

The night before the shooting, Ms Gervais told her sister she felt ready to sell her business, retire and enjoy the rest of her life, the US TV station reported.

She worked her life, and butt off for ... just to go enjoy, you know ... and she doesnt get that.She doesnt get that chance, Ms Sarvela said.

Ms Gervais, who was reportedly paralysed in the attack, spent the two remaining years of her life in a Californiannursing facility.

Her sister said Ms Gervaisremained in pain during this period because of shrapnel lodged in her body: There was scrap metal still in her because he used exploding bullets.

In October, MGM Resorts, which owns the Mandalay Bay Hotel, agreed to pay up to$800m (647m)to settle lawsuits brought by the victims of the attack.

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Prior to this, the company had sought to avoid liability via a federal law enacted in the wake of the 9/11 attacks that decreed in acts of terrorism, companies could not be held liable.

But pursuit of this defence meant the organisation was forced to counter-sue more than 1,000 victims, dragging them through the courts.

(GoFundMe/Family)

Ms Gervaissuffered PTSD and panic attacks in the wake of the horror, her daughterAmber Mankawrote on a GoFundMe page less than three weeks after the attack.

At least 1,500 donors give more than $130,000 (100,660)towards Ms Gervaistreatment forher extensive injuries.

The government of Clark County in Nevada paid tribute to the physical and emotional toll the Las Vegas shooting had taken on Ms Gervaisas her death was announced.

Our thoughts go out to the family and friends of Kim Gervais, Clark County wrote on social media. For the past two years, she had battled the physical and psychological toll of the Las Vegas shooting.

Ms Gervaisdied on 15 November atRedlands Community Hospital, San BernadinoCounty Sheriffs Department said in statement. A coroner is working to establish the cause and manner of her death.

Her sister told KPTV: Shell never leave my heart, ever.

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Woman wounded in Las Vegas mass shooting dies after two years of treatment - The Independent

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