A hero who stole a truck so he could drive victims of the Las Vegas massacre to hospital has revealed what the vehicle's owner had to say in the aftermath.
US Army veteran Taylor Winston leapt behind the wheel of a truck which had his keys with it while killer Stephen Paddock fired bullets indiscriminately into crowds.
He had no idea who the owner was as he rushed 30 critically injured people to hospital.
But three days later he received a text message describing the theft as 'water under the bridge' and asked how the shooting victims were.
The message said: "Hey Taylor told you might have the keys to my truck??
"All I won't (sic) is the key. Other then that it's all water under the bridge to me and hows the people you hauled doing?"
Taylor, 29, responded: "I have em for ya. When do you want to meet for em? We're at the Monte Carlo.
"I took about 30 critically injured to the hospital. Your truck was extremely important saving those peoples lives. I don't know if they all made it.
"Sorry about doing so and all the blood."
And in a second message he wrote: "I saved the tool box too. We pulled it out to fit more people but put it back in after the 3rd trip."
The owner is not identified in screenshots of the message posted on social media.
Describing his actions, Taylor told CBS News he had been at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival with his girlfriend when the shooting began.
He said: "I saw a field with a bunch of white trucks. I tested my luck to see if any of them had keys in it, first one we tried opening had keys sitting right there. I started looking for people to take to the hospital.
"There was just too many and it was overwhelming how much blood was everywhere."
Gunman Paddock, 64, killed 59 people and injured more than 500 when he opened fire from his suite in the Madalay Bay Hotel.
He killed himself as SWAT teams descended on the room. Authorities are still trying to establish why he carried out the mass killing.