UF law student shot in Las Vegas and recovering in hospital

A University of Florida law student is recovering at a hospital after being wounded in the Las Vegas mass shooting.

Kristin Babik had gone to Las Vegas to visit friends, said her mother Betty Babik. While there, she was among the more than 400 wounded by Stephen Paddock as he opened fire Sunday night at an outdoor county music festival in what is now ond of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Babik started at UF in summer 2011 as a freshman, going on to earn two bachelor’s degrees — one in criminology and the other in psychology — in May 2015, UF spokesman Steve Orlando said in an email. She graduated cum laude.

The bullet missed Babik's major organs and her spine, but she sustained a collapsed lung and broken ribs, according to a statement released by UF Law Dean Laura Ann Rosenbury. At least 58 people are dead.

Betty Babik, who lives in Gainesville, said her daughter is in stable condition at a Las Vegas hospital. At 3:30 p.m. Monday, Babik was getting ready to head to the airport to see her.

When she sees Kristin, Betty Babik said she’s planning to give her a kiss. When she spoke to her daughter earlier, she was in shock and pain.

"She's hanging in there," Betty Babik said.

This story was originally published October 2, 2017 at 4:15 PM with the headline "UF law student shot in Las Vegas and recovering in hospital."