Jack Beaton is one of the 60 victims to being killed during the deadliest shooting in U.S. history. Beaton is credited with saving his wife’s life during the carnage that left many dead and over 500 injured. The couple attended the Route 91 Festival Harvest concert on Sunday to celebrate their 23rd wedding anniversary.
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The shooting occurred on Sunday at around 10 P.M. when suspected mass shooter 64-year-old Stephan Paddock opened fire from his room on the 32nd floor of a Mandalay Bay hotel, across the street from the concert. He fired down upon the crowd below, causing 59 deaths and 527 injuries. Authorities are still investigating the motive in the shooting, and are still clueless as to why someone who commit such a gruesome act.
Who’s Jack Beaton?
Jack was a resident of Bakersfield, California. He died on Sunday night in Las Vegas, along with 59 others during one of the most deadliest shootings ever.
Mr. Beaton is credited with saving his wife’s life during the melee. 23ABC News reports that Beaton “took the bullet” for his wife Laurie. He later died in a hospital.
Beaton’s son Jake tweeted that his father was “#ATrueHero” and asked his audience to pray for his father.
“If every1 could please pray for my dad and every1 else at the rout 91 he jumped in front of my mom and got shot. I love youdad,” Jake wrote. “#atruehero.”
“I’ve never experienced gunshots but when I felt air go right past my arm I told my husband, ‘I don’t think that’s fireworks,’” Laurie Beaton told ABC News. “He told me, ‘Get down, get down, get down’” and he used his body to protect hers. “He told me, ‘I love you, Laurie’ and his arms were around me and his body just went heavy on me.”
Laurie reported seeing “a lot of blood” and then her husband wasn’t responding her screams. She later found out that her husband was dead after calling the coroner’s office on Monday afternoon.
“I knew every day that he would protect me and take care of me and love me unconditionally, and what he did is no surprise to me, and he is my hero,” said Laurie in her interview with ABC.
“Lost my best friend,” Jake wrote on Facebook. “I love you so much more then you could ever imagine. Please watch over our family. You will forever be remembered as our hero! #atruehero.”
“He never passed up an opportunity to give somebody a hand,” Cook told Bakersfield Now. “He always had a smile on his face. He had countless friends. Everybody that came in contact with him loved the guy.”
Beaton’s father-in-law, Jerry Cook spoke with with Bakersfield Now, and told reporters that Beaton was a kid at heart, but was also a responsible parent to his two sons.
“He never passed up an opportunity to give somebody a hand,” Cook told Bakersfield Now. “He always had a smile on his face. He had countless friends. Everybody that came in contact with him loved the guy.”
Cook described Beaton’s last months as he saved Laurie’s life. “He put Laurie on the ground and covered her with his body and he got shot I don’t know how many times,” Cook told Bakersfield Now. “Laurie was saying he was bleeding through the mouth, bleeding profusely, she knew he was dying. He told her he loved her. Laurie could tell he was slipping. She told him she loved him and she would see him in heaven.”
Beaten attended high school in Lake Isabella, California. He was a graduate of Kern Valley High School (Class of ’82), where he was apart of the football team.
Beaton is survived by his wife and two children, Jake and Delaney.
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