It may take a while for the effect to wear off. Perhaps it never will.

Larissa Mosser, 41, Minot, was enjoying the Jason Aldean concert in Las Vegas Sunday night when a gunman opened fire into the crowd. Mosser, her husband Chad, and Shawn and Nicole Swartout of Minot were up front at the left hand side of the stage when the chaos began.

“I remember looking up at Jason Aldean and thinking it was fireworks,” said Larissa Mosser. “Then everything just went black and we knew it wasn’t part of it. My husband said to get down and he still stood. I count my blessings we were all together.”

Mosser said she and her group didn’t know where the shots were coming from and that they laid on the ground for about a minute. Then they heard the whizzing sound of bullets flying overhead.

“It was real,” said Mosser. “My husband picked us up like a rag doll. People were dropping for protection or getting hit. I don’t know which. We stepped on people and over people. That was the guilty part, sad to say. I only saw a couple of people bloody.”

The Mossers where among thousands seeking what little protective cover was available. As Larissa crouched between two vehicles she told the others she needed to call somebody from home. That someone was Milt Korslien, Minot. Mosser is Korslien’s niece.

“She called me eight or nine minutes after it started,” said Korslien. “I heard gunfire. She explained she was hiding between two cars and just had to hear a live voice.”

Mosser said police were running into the concert area while others were running out.

“Bless their hearts. That’s what they do,” said Mosser. “SWAT teams told us to take cover. It was right out of the movies. I can’t stress how it sounded like it was coming from every direction. We just didn’t know where to run. It seemed like forever when the gunshots just never stopped.”

An hour earlier, said Mosser, the large concert crowd sang “God Bless America” along with Country and Western singers Big and Rich. It was a memorable and moving moment.

“I was so glad I was in the U.S. I got goosebumps,” said Mosser when recalling the patriotic experience.

The Mossers arrived in Las Vegas last Thursday to attend the Route 91 Country and Western event. They were at the same venue both Friday and Saturday night. It was, said Larissa Mosser, “the best vacation. It was just heartfelt. Perfect.” That was, of course, until Steven Paddock began his vile and deadly work from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino overlooking the concert area.

A Minot man, Andrew Gudmunson, 31, sustained two gunshot wounds during the Sunday night shooting spree. He is said to be in stable condition at a Las Vegas hospital. Although Mosser did not see Gudmunson during the Sunday concert, she did meet him for for the first time the previous evening.

“We cheered. It was another Minot person,” said Mosser. “Now my thoughts are totally with him and his family. It hits home.”

Chad and Larissa Mosser returned to a large crowd of family, friends and co-workers at the Minot International Airport Monday night. There were lots of tight hugs and many tears shed.

“I cried. I was just numb to everything,” said Mosser. “I feel safe now, at home. That whole next day in Vegas was an eternity for me.”

As of Tuesday afternoon authorities listed 59 dead and more than 520 injured due to the shooting, the largest mass shooting in U.S. history.