LAS VEGAS (AP) - Dozens of fellow "yellow shirt" security guards were among the hundreds of people mourning a Las Vegas man who died helping people escape the deadly Las Vegas concert shooting.
At the funeral Thursday morning for Erick Silva, 21, loved ones and dignitaries hailed him as a hero for helping people climb over a barricade at an outdoor country music festival as the gunman perched high in a casino-hotel tower unleashed more than 1,000 bullets into the crowd.
"Without him and people like him, Las Vegas could not be the entertainment capital of the world," said Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak.
Silva was a Contemporary Services Corporation security guard working the Route 91 Harvest Festival when he was shot in the head on October 1. He was among the 58 people killed in the massacre. Hundreds of others were wounded.
Gina Argento, his boss who was like a second mother to him, said in the packed chapel that Silva loved his family immensely. He was driven by duty and lived at home to help support his mother.
"You have to watch over your mom and your brother and your family," Argento said in tears. "And your CSC family. You need to go to the events."
Argento said that Silva took pride in his work, especially his ability to spot fake wristbands at the major events that he worked at over the last three years. He was on his way to a promotion within the company, and was so excited when he heard about it four days before the shooting, that he immediately told his mother.
"We counted on him and he didn't let us down," Argento said.