Las Vegas shooting victim who was shot in the head finally heads home to SoCal

Carlos Granda Image
Saturday, March 10, 2018
Vegas shooting victim who was shot in head comes back to SoCal
A mother who was shot in the head during the Las Vegas mass shooting finally headed home after five months of intensive care.

DOWNEY, Calif. (KABC) -- It's been a five-month fight for Kristina Staples and while she still has some trouble speaking, she finally came home.

"She is walking, talking, and eating and that's just amazing when a month ago she couldn't do any of them," her father Greg Terrill said.

Kristina was severely wounded in the Las Vegas mass shooting on Oct. 1.

She was at the Route 91 Harvest Festival across the street from the Mandalay Bay Hotel, when gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire. She was shot in the head and was in critical condition for weeks. She is going to need more surgery to get a prosthetic skull.

"When something like this happens, you have to come to terms with what you're going to be all right with and I've come to terms that I'd be all right if she could just smile and laugh. She's incredible, and she's blown our minds. She's surpassed everything that we've expected so far," her husband Danny Staples said.

Kristina has a 1-year-old baby girl and her husband said now that she's home it is time for the entire family to start healing.

"Our daughter has been missing her for the last five months and it's not easy. She needs her mom and her mom needs her. We realize it's going to take a while for the recovery, but now that she's at home (we can) get those maternal instincts growing again. It'll be awesome," Staples said.

Since Kristina will still need surgeries, a GoFundMe page has been set up for her. If you would like to donate, you may go to gofundme.com/kristina-staplesrecovery.

A fundraising event will also be held at The Milhous, 4885 Main St. in Yorba Linda. It will be on March 24 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.