Malibu photographer Brendon O’Neal didn’t plan on attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1.
The Malibu High School alum was out visiting a friend in Nevada when he was invited to photograph the show, because one of the final acts on Sunday night was a friend-of-a-friend—not knowing the last-minute change of plans would put him at the center of the largest mass-shooting in modern American history.
“We make it to the event, to see the act just before last—[Jake Owen] opened up for the last act—so, we’re stage right, back stage right, and I hear what sounds like the speakers popping, and it … just sounded like there was interference from speakers,” O’Neal described, “and then the popping happened a second time, this time it was a little bit louder, a little bit stronger, and I can see the tech guys on stage were confused. They’re radioing to each other like, ‘What’s going on?’
“And then it happened a third time and the third time, this time it was twice as loud as before and longer, and at this point I thought the sound system was exploding,” he continued. “I thought the amps were blowing up and the speakers were popping—it was just really really, painfully loud sound.”
O’Neal said a moment later, all the stage lights and sound systems shut off, replaced by the sound of screaming in the crowd and more gunshots.
“I look out at the crowd and the crowd is just scattering in all directions,” he said.
A security guard shouted at O’Neal and his friend to exit, so they left the stage in the rear and joined the crowd of people scattering.
At the time, O’Neal explained, people thought a gunman was in the crowd.
“It was just crazy … but somebody said [the shooter] was coming this way,” he said. “Somebody thought he was in the venue with a gun. We just had no idea where it was coming from or when we were going to see that gunman right in front of us. It was crazy.”
“You just hear screams and chaos, people running in all directions … When we get to the exit, bullets just rained down all around us,” O’Neal described. At one point, he and his friend ducked behind a police vehicle to take shelter, but just as they were heading toward the safety of the parking lot they saw a girl next to them go down.
“This girl next to us—she got shot, and my buddy and a couple other people are helping her out,” O’Neal said. “We were able to get her to the police vehicle we were just taking shelter at, and get her out of harm’s way.
“She was shot in the head and it looked like a fatal wound,” he added. “She wasn’t moving.”
As the attack went on, O’Neal said it “sounded like a helicopter was taking off,” it was so loud.
After bringing the girl back to the police car, O’Neal and his friend were able to hide behind a concrete median and take cover as “minutes of gunfire” continued. There they ran into police officers, whom O’Neal said were “in just as much shock” as he and his friend, who has military training.
“They couldn’t believe what was going on,” O’Neal said. “They were running for cover.” The police said they had to leave the area “right now.”
Soon after, a stranger in a van picked them up along with two young women and took them away from the area.
“We didn’t even know this person—this person was amazing. Total guardian angel,” he said. “She picked me and my buddy up and we were able to take two girls in the van as well and they were hysterical. We drove off and we were able to get out of there and drop the girls off at the hospital and get out of harm’s way.”
As of Friday, O’Neal was back in Malibu surrounded by friends and family. He was not injured in the attack that left nearly 60 dead and more than 500 wounded.
“I just got back. I was able to jump in the water, here in Malibu at Zuma and catch a couple waves,” he said on Friday afternoon. “I can’t tell you how good it is to be back in Malibu and see my friends and family. The support of the community has been really good. The community has been reaching out. It’s really good to be back in Malibu.”
O’Neal, a member of the Malibu High School class of 1998, has lived in Malibu his whole life. He taught surfing and ocean safety before moving on to work in photography and film for the past decade. While reflecting on whether surviving the attack changed his worldview, O’Neal said it’s important to remember you “can’t live in fear.”
“We have to enjoy the moment, enjoy the day, and not let these things take the better of us, take our joy away,” O’Neal said.
