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What’s the Story?
British tennis star Laura Robson has confirmed that she is safe, after she attended a Las Vegas festival, where around 50 people were killed after a lone gunman opened fire on the crowd.
Robson, who went to attend the festival after participating in an ITF tournament in Templeton, California, confirmed on Twitter, that she is safe. However, the 23-year-old also said that she is still in “shock” from the incident.
In case you didn’t know
A lone gunman, on Monday, reportedly opened fire from the 32nd floor of a nearby hotel, on the 22,000-strong crowd at the Las Vegas concert, killing 59, and injuring over 500 people.
The man, identified as 64-year-old Nevada Resident Stephen Paddock, shot himself, once he realized that the police were storming his room. As many as 10 guns were found in Paddock’s room.
Heart of the matter
Robson was attending the concert after participating in an ITF tournament in the nearby town of Templeton, California. The Briton had a strong run in the tournament, making it to the quarter final stage, without even dropping a single set. However, she came face to face with Taylor Townsend in the quarters, where she lost out on straight sets.
After t attending the event, the 23-year-old was seen enjoying herself at the concert, which was attended by around 22,000 people. However, the horrors of the mass shooting began to unfold soon.
"My friend who was deeper in the crowd has been helping people who were shot. We're all in shock," Robson said to BBC.
Author’s take:
Athletes often have to block out everything around them, in order to focus on getting better at the sport that they are trying to excel in. However, some times sports takes a backseat. This is one of those occasions.
Although Robson is likely to put this incident behind her and focus on her career later on, this incident has clearly left her, by her own admission, “shocked”.
