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Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders

October 2, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders' voice cracked with emotion during today's press briefing as she recounted the selfless heroism of those who sacrificed their own lives to protect others in yesterday's murderous assault from a high-rise hotel in Las Vegas.

A Las Vegas gunman named Stephen Paddock rained down bullets on a crowd attending an outdoor country music festival on Sunday evening, killing at least 58 people and injuring hundreds more.

Huckabee Sanders told the story of 29-year-old Sonny Melton, who traveled to Las Vegas from Tennessee to attend the concert with his wife, Heather.

“When the bullets began raining down from above, Sonny shielded her from danger, selflessly giving up his life to save hers. They'd been married for just over a year,” she said.

“Others risked their own lives to save people they'd never met,” said Huckabee Sanders, telling the story of Philadelphia teacher who “laid on top of students at the concert to protect them from the gunfire.”

“’They're 20, I'm 53,’ he said, ‘and I've lived a good life,’” said the teacher, according to Huckabee Sanders.

“What these people did for each other says far more about who we are as Americans than the cowardly acts of a killer ever could,” she said.

Huckabee Sanders then quoted from the New Testament: “The Gospel of John reminds us that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for a friend,” she said. “In the days ahead, we will grieve as a nation, we will honor the memory of those lost as a nation, and we will come together united as a nation, under God, and indivisible.”

“The memory of those who displayed the ultimate expression of love in the midst of an unimaginable act of hate will never fade,” Huckabee Sanders said, with her voice cracking. “Their examples will serve as an eternal reminder that the American spirit cannot and will not ever be broken.”