IBTPOTY2017 Pictures of the week
7 October 2017: Fifty-eight white doves are released in honour of the victims of the Mandalay Bay mass shooting, at the culmination of a faith unity walk at Las Vegas City Hall Drew Angerer/Getty Images

A California couple who survived the Las Vegas massacre on 1 October, died weeks later in a car crash less than half a mile from their home, authorities revealed.

The couple, identified as 52-year-old Dennis Carver and 54-year-old Lorraine Carver, were driving in Murietta on 16 October when their 2010 Mercedes went off the roadway, crashed into a metal gate and exploded, California Highway Patrol said. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

Brooke Carver, the couple's oldest daughter, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the two grew closer in love after surviving the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival.

"After the shooting, they heard from all the people they cared about most. They were so happy," the 20-year-old said. "The last two weeks of their lives were really just spent living in the moment."

According to the Los Angeles Times, the couple were in the crowd when a gunman opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Dennis reportedly jumped on top of his wife and protected her from being shot.

In between the third and fourth bursts of gunfire, Dennis and Lorraine got up and ran out without injury, their daughter said. The shooting would leave 58 people dead.

Just three days later, Brooke remembered her father asking what flowers to get her mother. "He just wanted to give my mom a reason to smile after the shooting," Brooke said. "I swear they were more in love those two weeks than in the last 20 years."

A week after the couple died, their family received Dennis' phone, which he had lost in the shooting, from the FBI. "When we turned it on, all of his photos and messages were still there," Brooke said. "This is how we know they're looking down and watching over us."

The couple's youngest daughter, 16-year-old Madison, told the Review-Journal: "We've found some peace in knowing that our parents just loved each other so much that they had to go at the same time. They couldn't live without each other."