The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors honored a county employee for his heroic actions during the Las Vegas shooting in October.
Maricopa County Public Defender Attorney Jamie Jackson was at a music festival in Las Vegas with his wife, when a gunman opened fire on the crowd.
Jackson said he and his wife dove for cover, and that’s when he saw a young woman with a boot soaked in blood. He asked if anyone had a belt and when someone handed one to him, he used it as a tourniquet to help control the bleeding.
He then picked her up and delivered her to an off-duty police officer who put her in a taxi to the hospital.
“During a time when tragedy struck and adrenaline was running high, Jamie Jackson took action,” said Supervisor Bill Gates, District 3. “He is a hero, and we are honoring him today for his actions that helped save a life.”
“After getting her to safety, all I could think of was getting home to my kids,” said Jackson. “My wife and I both said, ‘I don’t want to die. I want to see my kids,’ and it was survival mode after that.”
Fifty-eight people were killed that day and hundreds of others were wounded.
“There were a lot of people there helping,” said Jackson. “People being able to control something in a chaotic situation. Being able to see a lot of people helping was pretty amazing.”
Jackson was able to visit the young woman whose life he saved. Her name is Addison Short, and she was overcome with emotion when Jackson and his wife visited her at a Las Vegas hospital. Jackson said seeing her alive helps bring closure.
“We had left her with an officer. I knew she had lost a lot of blood, so I didn’t know what happened. I didn’t know if she was alive or not,” said Jackson. “For me seeing her was a huge step in ‘okay, something amazing came out of something so horrible’ knowing that she was alive.”