Airdrie, Alta., man looks back on 5 years since Las Vegas mass shooting

Trevor Hachey and his wife Tryphena love live music and go to as many concerts as they can.

They used to look for seats closest to the stage – now, they look for seats closest to the door.

"Our first instinct is – where is the nearest exit to get out quickly?" he told CTV News in an interview Thursday. "If it is an outdoor show, we need to figure out how we're getting out of these places."

Five years ago, the Hacheys and several of their friends were in Las Vegas, enjoying a Jason Aldean concert, when bullets started peppering the crowd.

By the end of the evening, 58 people were dead and nearly 500 more were injured by a man who fired into the crowd from a 32nd floor hotel room overlooking the outdoor music festival.

That man, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, killed himself that same evening.

"It's hard to believe it's been five years for sure," said Hachey. "That night was a mad scramble. When the bullets started, you had no idea which way to go, if it was coming from above or below."

Hachey dove behind a bar and stayed there as long as he could, not knowing when the shooting would stop.

He and Tryphena decided to separate as they escaped the concert grounds, hoping that would increase the chances at least one of them would survive.

"We knew we couldn't run together because the shots were coming so close," Hachey said. "We thought somebody needs to come home to the kids, one of us has to get home for sure."

After splitting up , the couple weren't reunited until the following morning, as police converged on the scene, locking down hotels and other public places until the shooter could be found.

The Hacheys, who live in Airdrie, eventually made it back home.

Three other Albertans were among Paddock’s victims.

Hachey says he's grateful he and his wife weren't shot – but that doesn't mean they weren't hurt.

"Now when you see shootings on the news, the PTSD kicks in," he said. "We used to go to Vegas probably two to three times a year, we loved going, we'd always go with friends to see shows but we haven't been there since and aren't even entertaining the idea.”

Still, Hachey says one of the most unlikely results of the tragic shooting was new friendships. He and his wife still keep in touch with the strangers they were locked down with in Las Vegas in the chaotic hours after the shooting.

"We went through the exact same experience," he said. "We're almost a family now."