ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
When Troy Rhett of Las Vegas heard about the attack unfolding on Sunday night at the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival, he texted his friend Charles Hartfield. Hartfield was an off-duty Las Vegas police officer and military veteran who was at the festival with his wife.
TROY RHETT: That text back never came. And we just assumed that having known Charles and the type of person he was and his background, being a police officer, being one of our service members, we just figured he was probably scrambling around, helping people out get to safety, doing what, you know, we all that know Charles would expect Charles to be doing.
KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:
But then Monday afternoon, Troy Rhett heard from a mutual friend. Hartfield had been shot and killed. He was 34 years old and a father of two.
SIEGEL: Rhett describes Hartfield's death as a loss for his family, for his friends and for the Las Vegas community where Hartfield coached youth football and was known as Coach Chuck.
RHETT: He was all about not just making kids better on the field but making kids better into, you know, how they contributed to their community, pushing people to be better, to do better. That was the epitome of who Charles was.
MCEVERS: Rhett told us the local football league had a candlelight vigil for Hartfield last night.
RHETT: We knew it was going to be a lot of people. It was going to be packed because we know Charles, and we know the impact that Charles had on every single person that he touched. I kept getting the question, were you good friends with Charles? My answer was to look around at the hundreds of people that were there. If you met Charles, he would make you feel like you were a good friend of Charles. The sorrow and the sadness of losing such a great individual like Charles Hartfield will be felt forever here in the community.
SIEGEL: Charles Hartfield, age 34, of Las Vegas is 1 of the 59 people who died because of the attack Sunday night at the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival in Las Vegas. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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