Las Vegas massacre anniversary shooting does not bring closure, say victim’s Bradenton parents

One day shy of the third anniversary of the mass shooting in Las Vegas that left 58 dead and hundreds wounded, a Nevada judge on Sept. 30 approved an $800 million settlement between MGM Resorts International and the families of the victims.

It’s an end to the legal process, but it’s far from closure, said Frank Hill, a Bradenton father to Hannah Ahlers, who was killed instantly after being shot in the head during the opening volley of rounds streaming down from a hotel onto the unsuspecting crowd.

“I don’t look at it as any kind of closure,” Hill said. “Closure means you can move on, and if you’re not in some kind of therapy of some sort, you’re not going to move on.”

That kind of closure can come from only one place and Hills and his wife found it in their faith and by sharing their story with others grieving the loss of loved ones.

The $800 million will be distributed to 4,400 survivors and family victims and go to immediate family members. In Ahlers’ case, settlement funds will go to her husband, who lives in California. Though the Hills maintain a close bond with their grandchildren, there hasn’t been a lot of communication with their son-in-law since the shooting as he goes through his own healing journey.

“We don’t have anything to do with the money and to be honest, I’m not sure if he even signed up to be a part of that,” Hill said. “But they can throw money at my son-in-law all they want. He has that already. It’s not healing him from the inside out and it’s just putting a patch on the grief.”

The FBI closed out its investigation about 18 months ago. Investigators were never able to determine why Stephen Paddock opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino into a packed country music festival crowd below. Paddock eventually took his own life when he thought law enforcement was closing in on his room.

The Hills moved to Bradenton before the shooting. Hannah’s mom, Summer Radtke-Hill, and her husband made the move to help their other daughter take care of an ailing husband, who died last year just a day before the second anniversary of their daughter’s death.

It was a second punch in the gut for the Hill family.

“I don’t know which was worse,” Hill said. “Getting the word that someone you love died instantaneously or seeing a loved one go through a prolonged ending.”

In March 2019, Radtke-Hill shared her journey with the Bradenton Herald. She found hope and life again, by working with others who have experienced loss. They were really just becoming an intricate part of a grief share program at their church when COVID-19 shut it all down in March.

But being involved in just a few sessions continues to change their lives and, more importantly to them, the lives of others.

“People are going through different stages of grief like us, losing their spouse or a parent, and what better way to not think of yourself than to help other people realize that you are not alone,” Radtke-Hill said.

The couple are now great friends with one woman who was convinced to go the program and listen to the Hills and others.

“She was angry,” Hill said. “After two sessions, this woman wears a smile 24/7. A lot of times people don’t even realize how much they are suffering until somebody points it out to them.”

The hardest question any one will ever ask after a tragedy is, “Why?”

Even today, it’s a question the Hills can only answer through their belief in God.

“Why? I don’t understand,” Radtke-Hill said. “I don’t know why, but I do know God loves me. He loves Hannah and He took her home. I’ll never understand until I’m with the Lord.”

It’s not just a “The Lord works in mysterious ways,” for the Hills. They see God working in their lives since Hannah’s death. Hannah’s oldest daughter, now 17, is in church. She has a church-going boyfriend whose family is involved in church. The Hills hear from her now more than ever and the Hills’ own church life is bringing to them, “a whole new family,” Hill said.

Giving to others is self healing

Hill said it’s important not to bury the pain of losing a loved one and to use it for good by giving hope to others.

“It’s a tremendous outlet to get to know other people who are suffering the same way,” he said. “It helped us so much in the beginning that we realized we weren’t the only family suffering.”

And then comes forgiveness through faith. The Hills have forgiven the man who took their daughter’s life.

“We weren’t the only family suffering,” Hill said. “There were 59 other families, which included the shooter. His family went through the same thing we went through. Charlie Brown said it best. ‘Good grief.’ We’re OK. Let’s turn the tables. If it were you that died, would you want everybody to be miserable for the rest of their lives? No, you wouldn’t.

“When you start looking at it in terms of your demise and how you would want people to deal with it and you being in heaven, that helps a lot,” he said. “I mean you’re in a great place. You can see that portion of it in our program. You can see people’s eyes get big and see that expression of, ‘Oh, I get it.’”

You can forgive. You can heal. You can help others. You can move forward. But forgetting is a different story.

“I still will be sitting here and some commercial comes on that reminds me of her and I’ll just start crying,” Radtke-Hill said. “We miss her terribly.”