TEWKSBURY, MASS. (WHDH) - A friend of a Tewksbury woman killed in the Las Vegas massacre spoke publicly Thursday morning as family members prepare for a memorial service, describing her as the “happiest, most caring, sweet and self-sacrificing person you will ever know.”
Rhonda LeRocque, 42, was among the 58 people killed in the mass shooting at a country music festival outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on Sunday, Oct. 1.
Ken Ball read a statement prepared by Jason LeRocque, Rhonda’s husband of 21 years and father of their 6-year-old daughter. Jason was at the concert with her when bullets began raining down from the 32nd floor of the hotel across the street.
The couple had just dropped their daughter off with her grandfather before the shooting, LeRocque’s mother, Priscilla Champagne said.
“Rhonda was a beautiful loving mother and wife,” LeRocque wrote. “Ally and our entire family meant the world to her.”
LeRocque’s service is planned for Saturday at 10:30 a.m. in the auditorium of Tewksbury Memorial High School. It will be preceded by a wake on Friday afternoon at the Nicholas Funeral Parlor in Wilmington.
“Rhonda was a firm believer in the Bible’s hope for the future that soon death and violent acts will no longer exist,” LeRocque wrote. “At this time, as difficult as her death is to all who knew her, we are comforted by this message as well, and will continue to share this message with others.”
He also thanked the strangers and first responders who helped get his wife to the hospital, as well as the medical personnel who gave him a precious two extra hours with her before she died.
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