LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — It is an unlikely love story. Near strangers who survived the 1 October shooting together are still together eight years later. Thursday, they spoke with FOX5’s Kim Passoth.
It was a night that forever changed Las Vegas and remains the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. A love that was sparked at a chance meeting a day earlier at a bar further up the Strip became an unbreakable bond in the chaos.
“It was my second year at Route 91. I went with a couple of girlfriends from Canada… we went to Gilly’s… He was looking at me from across the bar,” recounted Chantal Monfort, then Chantal Melanson, about then-stranger Austin Monfort.
“We just kind of hit it off. It was like we had known each other forever,” Chantal described. They talked all night, exchanged phone numbers, and then met up at the concert the next night, taking this picture close to the stage. “I thought I heard fireworks,” Chantal stated.
“At that point, we’d met up with my friends and my friend’s dad was there and we kind of glanced at each other like we weren’t sure what was going on because it wasn’t a point to have fireworks and then I still didn’t realize it… then he screamed at all of us to jump on the floor and get down,” Austin explained. That is when Austin made Chantal a promise.
“I was freaking out and he just kissed me and said we’re going to run out of here. Just hold my hand,” Chantal revealed. They ran to a waiting taxi.
“While we’re trying to tell him what’s happening, we look out the window and there’s a woman walking towards us and she was holding herself because she had been shot… So, then we opened the door, got her in the car, and then from there we knew where we needed to go, which was at the hospital,” Austin shared. They talked all night in the waiting room and every day since.
Chantal moved from Alberta to be with Austin in San Diego after he proposed in 2019. They were set to be married in Vegas by Nathalie Vanderstay, a nurse from Los Angeles, the woman who have been shot in the stomach and leg but COVID-19 changed those plans.
Last year, they did return to visit Vegas and the Healing Garden with their two children, Hudson, 1 and Addison, 4.
“Whenever we have a bad day, it’s like you just think we have this beautiful family and this beautiful life, and it wouldn’t probably wouldn’t have happened had we not gone through that,” Chantal reflected.
Chantal has embraced her role as a mom. She amassed a big following on social media: theallaroundmama She showcases her life with her husband and kids in San Diego. The couple tells FOX5 that they are currently planning another trip to Vegas. They plan to have a vow renewal ceremony with their two children.
Copyright 2025 KVVU. All rights reserved.
