The temptation to focus attention solely on the perpetrator of horrifically evil acts like the one seen in Las Vegas, where a deranged shooter massacred 58 people and left 515 injured, can sometimes blind us to the victims and their heartbreaking stories.
One such story profiled on Fox News involves a dedicated husband who heroically sacrificed his own life so that his wife could keep hers.
“Sonny Melton, of Paris, Tenn., was protecting his wife when a gunman aiming from the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas hotel-casino unleashed a hail of bullets on an outdoor country music festival below,” reports Fox News.
Tom Melton’s wife, Heather, told reporters of her devastation.
“At this point, I’m in complete disbelief and despair,” she said. “I don’t know what to say. Sonny was the most kind-hearted, loving man I have ever met. He saved my life and lost his.”
Aged 29, Melton worked as a registered nurse at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in Jackson, Tennessee. His wife is an orthopaedic surgeon at the same hospital, and the pair often worked together in the operating room. They were married in 2016.
“We were the couple that never should have met, fallen in love or had a future together … but life is funny and we believe God brought us together as soul mates,” read their wedding page on the website The Knot. “We have shared amazing times together and nearly unbearable heartaches but through it all we have grown stronger in our love for each other and our families.”
May he rest in peace and may his wife heal from her devastating loss.