UC alumnus credited with saving life of woman in Vegas mass shooting

By John Bach
513-556-5224 

Oct. 4, 2017

A University of Cincinnati alumnus was among the heroes who made a difference at the horrific shooting in Las Vegas Oct. 1, when he ran toward the gunfire and helped save the life of a complete stranger.

Austin Cox, a Marine, was reportedly attending the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas when gunshots rang out. Instead of fleeing, he ran toward the chaos where he found Katrina Hannah suffering from two gunshot wounds, one to her arm and one to her neck.

Cox told KABC-TV he picked her up and ran, eventually escorting her all the way to a local hospital, where he waited for loved ones to arrive.

“Once we got there we knew it was our job to help people,” Cox said in the interview with the station. Cox is a U.S. Marine and is stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego. He grew up in Piqua, Ohio, and, according to UC records, enrolled in UC's College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services in 2011-2012. He was also a member of the UC Rugby team and later left to join the Marines.

Afterward, the victim’s mother took a photo of Cox still covered in her daughter’s blood. 

“He said, ‘I’m not a hero,'” said Loreto Hannah, the mother of the victim in an interview with KABC. “And I said, 'You will always be the angel that saved my daughter’s life.'”

• Read complete story on KABC 

UC rugby teammate remembers Cox

The news about Cox coming to the aid of a stranger in such a difficult situation was not a huge surprise to friend Walker Tice, a 2015 UC graduate, who met him in 2011 when both were playing rugby on campus.

“He is one of those kids that never had much, but he would give you the shirt off his back,” says Tice. “He was a guy that was friends with everyone. It is good to know we have good people in the world, and we need more good people in the world like him.”