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COUPLE WHO SURVIVED LAS VEGAS MASSACRE GET ENGAGED:
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As it was for many Americans, October 1, 2017, was a sobering date for Mykenzie Lane and her boyfriend, Brandon Helmick. The couple of three years were listening to Jason Aldean at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas when a gunman, later identified as Stephen Paddock, opened fire, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds of others.

On Friday, however, the two were able to celebrate a more joyous occasion: their engagement.

Helmick, 21, proposed to Lane, 22, last week. The Mission Viejo man asked Lane to marry him using a “heart full of rose petals” on Laguna Beach, she told Fox News on Wednesday.

“I had some idea but I still cried my eyes out,” Lane, a California State student, said.

While an engagement is a special milestone for any couple, it holds a deeper significance for the California natives: Helmick protected Lane during the shooting.

Helmick, a baseball player at Saddleback College, threw his body over Lane after the first round of rapid-fire shots went off. The two then ran toward nearby storage units for shelter.

But moments later, Lane was shot. One of the gunman’s bullets hit the side of her left ankle, traveling through the front of her shin and then exiting out through her cowboy boot.

“From that point, he said we have to find a way to the hospital. I tried to walk but couldn’t, so he threw me on his back and carried me until we found an ambulance,” she said.

When the couple arrived at the ambulance, however, it had “people in it that needed much more help than me, so we proceeded to find an Uber which thankfully gave us a ride,” she said.

Lane said she and Helmick have “endless amounts of blessings to be thankful for every day because we’re still here.” Still, the incident has “impacted our lives in more ways than one,” she added.

“We don’t like to be apart for long periods of time, we stick together especially at night,” Lane, from Tustin, Calif., said.

But the country music-loving couple is moving forward. They’ve even set a date for their wedding: August 3.

“Our relationship has always meant the world to me,” said Lane. “But when someone sacrifices their life for you, how could you ever get more reassurance than that?”

"DALLAS POLICE OFFICER DEAD IN SHOOTING"

DALLAS (AP) — The gunman accused of opening fire at a Dallas home improvement store — killing one police officer and critically injuring two others — was initially detained because he was acting suspiciously and may have tried to steal from the store, an arrest warrant revealed Wednesday.

An off-duty officer who was working a part-time job at the Home Depot store in the north of the city learned Armando Luis Juarez, 29, had an outstanding felony warrant after he was detained by store officials for suspected shoplifting, according to the arrest warrant.

Two on-duty officers, Rogelio Santander and Crystal Almeida, were called to the store and, along with a Home Depot loss-prevention officer, were speaking with Juarez in an office. The off-duty officer stepped away, heard a report of "shots fired" broadcast over the police radio and then rushed back to the office to find the officers and loss-prevention employee on the ground with gunshot wounds, according to the warrant.

Investigators later reviewed police body-camera footage that showed Juarez pulling a handgun from his pocket as Santander and Almeida attempted to take him into custody, the warrant alleges.

Santander died Wednesday of his injuries and Almeida and the loss-prevention officer, Scott Painter, were in critical condition.

Juarez was arrested late Tuesday on charges of aggravated assault on a public servant and felony theft. He was subsequently charged with capital murder. Juarez was being held on a bond in excess of $1 million at the Dallas County jail.

Police Chief U. Renee Hall said at a brief news conference Wednesday that Almeida and Painter are "making remarkable recoveries" following surgery.

"This is going to be a trying time for us, so we're just asking you for your support at this time," Hall said.

Police were called to the Home Depot in Lake Highlands at around 4 p.m. Tuesday to remove Juarez from the store. Hours after he escaped, his white pickup truck was spotted by police and a high-speed chase ensued, eventually resulting in his capture just before 10 p.m.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said late Tuesday that he was "upset at the lack of respect for our police in this city and in our country."

The next day, speaking at a city council meeting, Rawlings said, "I hope that we have a degree of respect and honor for our police and first responders today in everything that we do."

In 2016, four Dallas police officers and a transit officer were shot dead by a sniper in an ambush that came toward the end of a peaceful protest over the police killings of black men in other cities.

Relatives of Juarez said they couldn't believe he would be involved in such a violent episode.

"There's no way my son could've done this," Ruben Juarez told The Dallas Morning News, adding that he didn't think his son owned any guns.

Armando Juarez's grandmother, Janie Longoria, told reporters Tuesday that her grandson is a "sweet, lovable person," but that his friends are a bad influence.

Juarez was arrested in January on a charge of unlawful use of a motor vehicle after authorities say he was found in a stolen vehicle. He also pleaded guilty to a drug-possession charge.

"And I told him to stay away from those people," Juarez's grandmother said.

A Home Depot spokesman told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the shooting sent a wave of horror through the home improvement store chain's corporate headquarters in Atlanta.

"We're heartbroken," said spokesman Stephen Holmes. He added that the chain's leadership team has been actively supporting Painter's family and offering counseling to his co-workers.

Otherwise, Holmes said the company is referring to police all questions about the shooting and the run-up to it.