In a touching interview with Anderson Cooper, a gay Utah man recalled the final moments before his boyfriend was gunned down in Sunday’s mass shooting in Las Vegas.
Cameron Robinson, 28, lived in Cedar City, Utah, but commuted to Las Vegas, where he worked for the city as a legal records specialist, according to CNN. Robinson was one of at least 59 people killed when a gunman opened fire on the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival Sunday.
“I just can not say enough amazing things about that man,” Bobby Eardley, who attended the festival alongside Robinson, told Cooper. “He’s such an example to everyone that he ever came into contact with in his life... He built such an amazing life for himself.”
In a separate interview with The Guardian, Eardley, 36, proudly called Robinson his “other half,” and described their personalities as complementary.
“I’m the crazy, fly by the seat of your pants – he’s the straight laced and level headed one... and so many other things,” he said. When asked what he loved most about Robinson, he added, “His quirky little smile, his big teeth, his crooked sunglasses… so many things.”
Eardley told CNN that Robinson had lent him moral support as he was coming out to his family members four years ago.
“I knew that they were accepting and everything,” he recalled. “But it took someone as special as Cameron to be able to open eyes for everyone. I’m so grateful to him for that.”
In the moments after Sunday’s attack, Eardley said he “wanted to make sure [Robinson] knew that he wasn’t alone.”
“I held him and talked to him the whole time,” Eardley, who suffered shrapnel wounds to his lower back, told CNN. “I know he wasn’t the only victim and I know that so many other people exactly what I’m going through. My heart goes out to every single one of them.”
Las Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic held back tears as he remembered his employee.
“It’s just too difficult to think that you’re not going to see him again,” he told ABC affiliate 13 Action News in an interview, which can be viewed above. “The life that this person brought to everybody around him was just incredible... I think everybody should know how appreciated and how loved they are in life, and we should give them their flowers while they’re still alive to smell them.”
An online fundraiser for Robinson’s medical and funeral expenses had generated over $25,000 at the time this story was first published.
“Today we lost an amazing friend, son, brother, uncle, cousin, coworker and boyfriend to the senseless, horrible tragedy of the Las Vegas shooting. He was full of life and love and so much passion,” organizer Valerie Alvey wrote Monday. “He is an amazing example to all and brought so much light to those he came in contact with.”
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