An MLB prospect shielded two complete strangers with his body before dragging them to safety during the Las Vegas massacre, it has been revealed.
Bowdien Derby, 23, a minor league pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers, sprang into action on Sunday night when Stephen Paddock opened fire on a country music festival in Las Vegas.
Jori Apsit Jellison, from Arizona, who was attending the festival along with California friend Darci DeArmon Wallace, said Derby grabbed them both by the hand when bullets started raining down on them from the Mandalay Bay hotel.
Bowdien Derby, 23 (second left and right), a minor league pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers, has been credited with saving two mothers in Las Vegas on Sunday
Jori Jellison, a mother-of-three, wrote on Facebook that Derby had dragged her and friend Darci Wallace out of harm’s way before helping them recover from the traumatic ordeal
He not only got the two mothers, who between them have five children, out of harm’s way, but stayed with them as they recovered from the traumatic experience.
Writing on Facebook, Jellison said: ‘I don’t have the right words to thank you privately yet, but I really need your family and friends to know what an amazing guy you are.
’23-year-old Bowdien Derby not only helped to shield my friend and I (two complete strangers) from what seemed like endless gunfire, but he stayed by our side all night long until we could get back to our friends.
‘Bowdien grabbed our hands and ran us to safety which was certainly no easy feat. If he didn’t make us get up and run from the gunfire, I probably wouldn’t have moved.
‘He stayed with us all night long until we were finally allowed to leave the casino we ran into. Bowdien and his amazing family then welcomed us into their suite, handing out pillows, blankets and just warmth. We left them around 6:30am to re-unite with our 6 friends.
Wallace (left) said she and Jellison (right) had known Derby for just five minutes before the bullets started flying, but helped them without a moment of hesitation
‘There was another woman with us as well, a terrified employee at the festival. Bowdien never panicked, never wavered.
‘You all are so very blessed to have this amazing man (and family) in your lives. Darci’s 2 babies and my 3 children can never, ever thank you enough.’
In her own Facebook post, Wallace said she and Jellsion had known Derby for five minutes before the shooting started.
She praised him as a ‘light in the dark’, adding that ‘words cannot describe the horror I witnessed last night’.
In total 58 people at the Route 91 Harvest Festival were killed and more than 500 wounded during 10 minutes of carnage caused by Paddock.
He opened fire from a suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel with an arsenal of 23 weapons after smashing out two windows with a hammer.
Paddock ‘preplanned extensively’ for the atrocity, Sheriff Joe Lombardo said, taking days to transport weapons to the suite in 10 separate suitcases where he fitted 14 of them with devices allowing them to fire up to 800 rounds per minute.
Detectives still do not know his motive, but have refused to rule out the possibility he was radicalized, despite the FBI saying he had no known links to foreign organizations. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack.