Las Vegas Shooting: Aurora Hospital Official Recounts Harrowing Escape

AURORA, IL — John Diederich is no stranger to handling an emergency. He was recently on vacation in Las Vegas from his chief operating officer job at Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora. The 48-year-old was enjoying the country music festival with a childhood friend Sunday night when shots were fired, sparking a massacre that left at least 58 dead and injured 500 more.

He had no idea where the shots were coming from, he told Denise Crosby of the Aurora Beacon-News Tuesday. His friend, Keith Mouis, of Yorkville, were standing on a platform when they decided to make a run for it.

Diederich recounts the story to Crosby at the Aurora Beacon-News:

Taking those dozen stairs to the ground, he said, were some of the "scariest moments" of his life as the pair had no idea what awaited them when they "made that turn and got to the bottom." more via Beacon-News

Diederich ended up separating from Mouis amid the scattered search for safety. His wife back at home, Joanne, got a phone call from him as soon as he made it out of the venue.

More than an hour later, he found his way back to his hotel and just as he started to fall asleep around 4 a.m., the news hit home.

Diederich's phone was flooded with texts and calls. The image of that night, he said, "will be burned in my memory for a long time to come."

Photos via AP Photo/John Locher