By now most people are aware of the savagery that descended upon the Las Vegas country music festival. The devastation that was wrought by Stephen Paddock left more than 57 people dead and hundreds more severely injured. But one picture became viral after that horrific attack, and it was the image of a man shielding a woman with his body.
In the image, a man could be seen lying on top of a woman as he covers her eyes and shields her body with his.
It was later revealed that this man was a United States Army soldier.
Matthew Cobos is the name of the man in that heroic image. As gunshots and bullets rang out around him, he tackled this innocent woman to the ground and shielded her from the bullets.
ABC News
Because Matthew had military training he knew how to shield the woman’s body with his own.
Furthermore, he knew to cover the woman’s eyes because he didn’t want her to see all the death, blood and carnage that was around her.
When the image first surfaced, no one was sure who the man was or whether the two people knew each other. But after the image went viral, Matthew decided to tell his personal account.
He said that after shielding the woman, he led her to a nearby car where they hid from the raining bullets.
Matthew said that after leading the woman to safety, he used his belt as a tourniquet to help stop the bleeding of the other victims.
In addition to that, he also used his fingers to plug bullet holes and prevent further bleeding. He later revealed to his friends and relatives that he heard bullets ricocheting off the ground around him, indicating that Stephen was potentially aiming for him specifically.
However, Matthew didn’t stop doing what he was doing, he proceeded to continue doing what he was trained to do and helped protect many innocent civilians who could have perished on that terrifying night.
