Stacey Hassard, the interim leader of the Yukon Party, said today he’s “happy to be home” from Las Vegas after surviving the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Hassard, speaking to local media about his experience this morning, appeared visibly shaken by the ordeal.

He and his wife, Shelley, were attending an outdoor country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip on Sunday night when they heard gunshots.

While Hassard is familiar with firearms and said he can often identify a gun’s calibre by its sound, he said he initially thought they were hearing fireworks, and told his wife to “relax.”

As concert-goers started to correctly identify the sound as gunfire, Hassard said they started to panic. He said his initial fear was not the shooter, but that people would be trampled.

He said the venue floodlights came on for a brief minute, but were quickly turned off again.

Hassard speculated that someone realized exposing the reality of the scene to the crowd “wasn’t a smart move.”

“When people get scared and start to panic, then it can make a bad situation a lot worse,” he told reporters.

Initially, many people “just laid down,” said Hassard, adding that he too did so.

Then he realized, based on the sound of the gunshots and the lack of overlap between them, that it was most likely just one shooter, firing from outside the venue.

“We needed to get as many people away to a safe distance as possible,” he said.

Hassard and his wife took cover behind a bar, then were able to get out of the venue, into a taxi, and back to their hotel at the other end of the Strip, unharmed.

“Nobody had any idea ... that this was happening,” he said of their return to the hotel.

“My heart definitely goes out to all of those that are dealing with this, and the aftermath.”

Hassard said he’s received many messages of support, and was looking forward to returning to work as the legislative assembly began a new session early this afternoon.

The most recent reports put the Las Vegas shooting death toll at 59, with more than 500 injured.

The gunman, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, was found dead in his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, across the street from the concert.

He was armed with at least 23 guns. His motive for the shooting remains unconfirmed.

See the latest on the shootings in today’s World section.