TULSA, Okla. — Three families are in mourning after a mass shooting at the University of Nevada Las Vegas on Dec. 6.
The school canceled classes for the rest of the week but the National Finals Rodeo is planning to continue their event on campus. One Tulsa man is overseeing the rodeo’s telecast.
“It’s crazy how it can hit so close to home,” said Jeff Medders. "It’s amazing that we’re two time zones away, you know, you see news happening all the time. It’s crazy how it can hit so close to home."
Medders finds himself in Las Vegas around this time every year for the rodeo.
He’s president of “The Cowboy Channel” which televises the National Finals Rodeo from the campus of UNLV.
Before his time in that world, he was a sports anchor and reporter at 2 News Oklahoma.
Many of the people on his production crew are Tulsa-based. They’ll be in Vegas for the next few days but the feel is certainly different.
"What’s it gonna be like? Do people even wanna be here? Like are people even gonna wanna be on a college campus right now?" said Junior Matthew a UNLV student who was in the middle of his journalism lecture when a gunman started his rampage.
Three people tragically lost their lives. The gunman died in a shootout with police. Matthew praised the police for their response.
"Sadness that this is happening, but happiness that they got here so fast. It seems like they were on campus right as it started because we have a really good response it feels like ever since our last shooting that we had here in Vegas," said Matthew.
Medders, television crew competitors, and more were in the Thomas and Mack Center when the shooting started.
Thomas and Mack is home to the Rebels basketball teams and the rodeo. At one point, police escorted everyone onto the rodeo floor.
"Which was kind of the scariest part of it all just to have a couple hundred people there right on the arena floor. You really didn’t know what was going on," said Medders.
Medders said misinformation was spreading rapidly throughout the hours-long ordeal.
All the while he was trying to stay in contact with family back home, manage his crew, and look out for his safety.
Police eventually released people to their cars, but did not let them back in until today.
Today’s rodeo events are canceled on Dec. 7 and will pick back up on Friday afternoon.
"Cowboy spirit’s alive and well out there," said Medders.
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