Jason Aldean featured in '11 Minutes,' new Route 91 Festival documentary

Marcus K. Dowling, Nashville Tennessean
·2 min read
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Marking the fifth anniversary of the tragic shooting that occurred on October 1, 2017, at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival will be Paramount+'s four-part documentary "11 Minutes," which will chronicle "heart-stopping stories of terror and survival experienced by those who were at the event," including officers from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police force, trauma teams at Sunrise Hospital and concert-goers.

The mini-series will debut Tuesday, September 27, on Paramount+. It will feature exclusive comments from Jason Aldean, who was on stage when shots rang out from the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino adjacent to the festival's main stage.

"It's something we think about a lot, and probably always will," Aldean stated on the red carpet for the 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards -- which were held in Las Vegas. "But I feel like I'm at peace with everything for me personally. I just try to move on and make the best of a bad situation. That's all I can do, I feel like."

New Paramount+ four-part documentary "11 Minutes" chronicles the October 1, 2017 tragedy at the Route 91 Music Festival.
New Paramount+ four-part documentary "11 Minutes" chronicles the October 1, 2017 tragedy at the Route 91 Music Festival.

Via a press release, he adds that he remembers hearing a popping noise and thinking it was an equipment malfunction. "When I turned around, my bass player looked at me like a deer in the headlights. And my security guy was on stage at that point, telling me to get down, waving me off the stage."

Notably, that security guard, Ryan Fleming, passed away in August 2021. Aldean wrote via Instagram, "[Ryan] put his life in danger to take care of me and my crew. He was a good man and an even better friend. We will all miss you, brother, and thank you for having my back all these years."

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police bodycam footage, 200 hours of cell phone video, and a detailed description of the approach to the shooter's hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel will be featured. The situation was described as "probably the highest level of intensity that I've ever been in," says (Ret) SWAT officer Billy Marx.

People tend to the wounded outside the Route 91 Harvest Country music festival grounds after an apparent shooting on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. There are reports of an active shooter around the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
People tend to the wounded outside the Route 91 Harvest Country music festival grounds after an apparent shooting on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. There are reports of an active shooter around the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

SiriusXM radio host and festival emcee Storme Warren is also featured and notes, "the story, to me, wasn't about a shooter. It was about people helping each other.

The four-part documentary is directed by Emmy and Peabody-winning director Jeff Zimbalist of the famed 2010 ESPN "30 for 30" documentary "The Two Escobars," among numerous career highlights.

For more information about "11 Minutes" and Paramount+, please visit www.paramountplus.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jason Aldean featured in '11 Minutes,' new Route 91 Festival documentary