During the chaos of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, Iraq War Veteran Taylor Winston found himself in the middle of a nightmare no concertgoer could have imagined. Winston, 29 at the time, had been enjoying the show with his girlfriend, when gunfire erupted. “People started scattering and screaming and that's when we knew something real was happening.” Trapped behind a fence with thousands of others and no way to fight back, Winston relied on what he could do: drive.
Spotting a field of parked trucks, the first one he tried had keys inside it. He immediately began loading the most critically injured victims into the truck bed and backseat, ferrying them to Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center before ambulances had arrived. After each drop-off, he returned for more, ultimately transporting roughly 20 to 30 people to safety. Navigating a scene he described as “a mini war zone.”
Winston credits his Marine Corps training — he joined at 17 and served two tours in Iraq, honorably discharged as a sergeant in 2011 — for helping him act decisively under fire. Yet, he humbly rejects the “hero” label. “There was a lot of bravery and courageous people out there. I'm glad that I could call them my country folk,” he said.
Though he doesn’t know which of his passengers survived, Winston returned the keys to the truck’s owner and reflects on that night with humility. Still, his quick thinking, selflessness, and fearless action turned a night of horror into a story of extraordinary courage.
