Thousands help SoCal man find dog lost during Las Vegas shooting

PHELAN, Calif. (KABC) -- A 1-year-old French bulldog is back home with its owner in Phelan after running away during the harrowing moments of the massacre in Las Vegas.

"There were so many people trying to get away, we didn't know if she had been stepped on or hurt, or worse," said dog owner Ryan Needham. "It was just a horrible, horrible situation."

Needham is part owner of a concessions company that was working the Route 91 concert on Sunday. His girlfriend was working inside the venue and Needham was driving up to the venue on Las Vegas Boulevard as the shooter opened fire on the crowd.

"I could hear everything," said Needham. "Obviously, everybody in the place was panicking, and not knowing what to do. They didn't know where (the shooting) was coming from."

Needham said Roulette escaped from a crate she was in during the chaos, as one of the employees was trying to pick her up. "She escaped because of all the crazy noise and chaos, and just ran into the crowd," said Needham. "We just really didn't know what to do."

They were obviously much more concerned with helping all of the other concertgoers. But Roulette was gone.

MORE: San Bernardino County firefighters rush to save lives amid hail of bullets in Las Vegas

"Obviously, there are a lot of emotions going on with everything that happened," said Needham. "But she goes everywhere with us, and with no kids, she's almost like our kid, so we were super devastated along with everything else."

MORE: Healing garden being set up in Vegas to honor shooting victims

But they weren't alone in their efforts to try to find the little dog. In fact, he estimates tens of thousands of people joined in to help.

"It just grew and grew and grew," said Needham. "We never would have guessed so many people would have stepped forward to help."

He says someone had even volunteered to drive into Las Vegas from Colorado, just to help with the search. Help poured in across social media as well.

MORE: Southern California victims in Las Vegas mass shooting

"Everything from creating lost dog sites to creating Facebook pages for her," said Needham. "Watching the news; we had people literally calling from other countries saying that they saw it on the news."

After three days of searching, they found Roulette taking shelter at a nearby apartment complex. They think she'd probably been running back and forth from her crate in the concert venue, which was still considered a crime scene. Needham said Roulette is in good health.

"The best thing is it shows there are so many good people," said Needham. "So many people willing to try to help other people."