DETROIT, MI (WTOL) - Shaken up sleep deprived and still in shock, folks who were at baggage claim at Detroit international Airport said they woke up to text messages from friends and loved ones asking them and making sure that they were okay.
"I actually just woke up to the news. We got like a zillion texts from our friends. This is kind of emotional. From friends and family just checking to see if we were okay," said Jenny Sottosanti who just arrived back to Detroit from Las Vegas.
Sottosanti and her husband travel to Vegas often. They're early flight Monday sent them to bed early. Some of the couple's friends were at the country concert at Mandalay Bay.
"We did we had friends that were there and they're okay, but we're still actually anxious to hear how that went down," Sottosanti.
Joel Frestue was down on the Las Vegas strip when the lone gunman started shooting from the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay.
"Kind of just took cover. But yeah I'm still pretty shaken up actually yeah. Having a hard time with it," explained Frestue who was on strip at the time of shooting.
Frestue was in Vegas with friend for his 40th birthday. He said it's one he'll never forget.
"Like I said Caesars is in that corner and it's a big spot right in the middle. People were hiding behind trees and dodging behind cars and we were a kilometer away so it was pretty traumatic," explained Frestue.
Another witness said he was in the middle of the chaos at Mandalay Bay when he was just trying to get a taxi to the airport Monday morning. He said he will never forget the look on some of those people's faces who were rushing from the concert.
Some of the people at the airport didn't think the night would end.
While chaos ensued outside of Mandalay Bay where the gunman opened fire, more than 1000 people were locked down Inside the Mandalay Bay theater.
Jeff and Loretta Mraz were inside watching the Michael Jackson show.
They said all of a sudden the lights went down in the theater, the curtain came down and an announcement was made for everyone to stay in their seats. They weren't allowed to leave for five hours.
When they left the theater at 3 a.m. they were taken by bus to UNLV.
They said what they saw when they walked outside was like nothing they never seen before.
"There was almost 1,800 people in that theater that we're all on lockdown, so they took us out by bus. When we came out, Las Vegas Boulevard was completely closed down and there was just EMS vehicles everywhere but the streets were pretty much deserted other than EMS people," said Loretta.
"Yes they had a triage right in the middle of Las Vegas Boulevard so it was quite difficult," said Jeff.
Besides being in the middle of chaos, everyone returning from Vegas had one thing in common ; they were thankful to be home.
