Long Beach Resident Among Those Killed in Las Vegas Mass Shooting

Rachael Parker, 33, a Long Beach resident and police records technician for the Manhattan Beach Police Department was among the 59 people killed in Sunday’s mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip.

There were over 500 injured and 59 killed after Stephen Paddock, 64, a Mesquite, Nev. resident, opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino onto a country music festival around 10:00 p.m. – making it the most lethal mass shooting in American history.

Parker, who attended the Route 91 Harvest Festival with four other Manhattan Beach Police Department employees, was one of two who suffered gunshot wounds in her group. The other victim was an unnamed sworn officer who survived his injuries. Parker later died in the hospital, authorities said.

(Photo from instagram @rparker131)

Parker who worked 10 years as a civilian employee will be greatly missed by the department, according to a news release.

“She was just a great, great worker, always happy – definitely had her whole future ahead of her,” Kristi Colombo, MBPD spokeswomen told the L.A. Times. “I’m heartbroken and speechless.”

Her Long Beach neighbor, Arlene Richardson, remembers Parker as young woman whose life was cut short.

“She was so beautiful and our sense of humor was so similar that laughing was a constant,” said Richardson. “We became instant friends when we met, [it] was one of those rare times when you met someone and you just know that you’re going to be in each others life forever. I’m so sad that forever was so very short for her.”

Richardson considered Parker as a close friend, and now she says, her angel.

“[Her] dogs will be taken care of, I promise,” she said.

By LBLN Julissa James