Sonny Melton’s father reacts to son being a victim in Vegas massacre

October 1. A night that should have been an enjoyable one at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. But instead it is become a living nightmare for the Melton family, who lost their husband, son and hero.

“You’re never prepared for something like this,” widow Heather Melton said.

A distraught wife describes running from gunfire that rang out over the concert crowd in Vegas Sunday night. Her husband, Sonny Melton, 29, used himself as a human shield of protection.

“Then I start feeling the ricochets of the bullet on the ground and I felt him get shot in the back,” Melton said.

Sonny’s father, James, described his son as a hero. saying, “…Sonny, my youngest son at 29 years of age, was dead. Bullets in his back as he lay over his wife, protecting her as best he could…”

Although Heather started CPR, she said Sonny was bleeding from his mouth. And once they got too the hospital, it was too late.

“I went into the trauma room and he had already passed, I kissed him and hugged him.

James Melton says in his letter, his hate for the shooter may fade as time passes. Heather agrees this shooting was senseless.

“There’s no justifiable motive, reason, belief that could account for what he did,” Melton said. “And it won’t change the fact that he killed my husband and a lot of other innocent people.”

As a nurse, Sonny always puts others above himself according to family. His father said, “He was just a good guy, doing what good guys do. He was a hero.”

“If he was one of the people who had survived and gotten me out he would’ve been one of those people running back in,” Melton said. “I have no doubt in my mind.”

Heather has already set up the Sonny Melton Scholarship Fund in her late husband’s honor. Apex Bank has committed to match the first $50,000 of donations.

The scholarship will assist graduating seniors from Big Sandy High School who want to pursue a career in nursing.