Former Ilion Man Now Living in Las Vegas: All You Could Hear Were Sirens

Images of carnage from Sunday night's Las Vegas shooting massacre are hitting close to home for many of the millions upon millions of people who've visited Sin City.

As one of the world's most popular tourist destinations, millions of those viewing images of what is now the largest mass shooting in modern American history are saying, 'I stayed at that hotel', 'I was standing on that bridge' or likely have personal photos of themselves standing in front of the same buildings that served as the backdrop of an 'act of pure evil'.

On Monday, WIBX First News with Keeler in the Morning spoke with Cindy Testa, a Utica woman who arrived to vacation on the Vegas Strip just hours before the gunfire erupted.

And while millions visit Las Vegas, hundreds of thousands call the city home.

WIBX also caught up with Dave Skramko, an Ilion, NY native who once worked for WIBX sister-station Lite 98.7. He's lived in Las Vegas for nearly a decade and was relieved when talked to him, that none of his friends or there families had been in the path of suspected shooter Stephen Paddock.

Skramko said he's not much of a country music fan but, considering he was off on Sunday night and Monday, had checked the concert festival's lineup to see if there was someone playing that he'd like to see.

Fortunately, there wasn't.

So a lazy Sunday night was turned in its head when a friend who lives in Las Vegas, but was out of town, text at around 10:15 p.m. to ask 'What the hell is going on at Route 91?', he recalled.

Skramko, who says he lives about 10 minutes from the Vegas strip and recalled walking outside and, 'all you could hear were sirens'.

Despite being a host for world travelers, 'Vegas is a very tight knit community', he said.

His phone quickly lit up with texts from worried friends and co-workers from the Bellagio Hotel a bit further down the Vegas strip, and was reassured to learn that they too were all safe from the tragedy.