(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — A Florida State University graduate student shared with ABC News the harrowing moments she was shot on campus and forced to play dead as the gunman reloaded.
Madison Askins, 23, one of seven people shot near FSU’s student union on Thursday, said she was walking with a friend when she heard gunshots.
Askins and her friend “took off running,” but “unfortunately, I fell,” she said.
Her friend tried to help her up, but Askins said she was then shot in her buttocks. Her friend ran to safety, which she said was “valid.”
As Askins lay wounded, she said she remained calm and thought about what her parents told her to do during active shooter drills: play dead.
“I released all the muscles in my body, closed my eyes and held my breath,” she said. “And I would take short breaths in between when I needed to.”
“At one point I did think [the gunman] had walked away, so I was going to shift over to grab my phone to share my last ‘I love you’s’ with my family,” she said.
“I wanted to call my dad, tell him I loved him,” she said, wiping away tears.
But she said she then heard the gunman approach and reload his weapon. She said she heard him calmly say, “Keep running.”
“I know for certain if I was moving he would’ve shot me again,” she said.
Askins said she “didn’t want to entertain” the thought of dying, adding, “I knew I just needed to stay calm.”
Eventually the gunman left and Askins said she stayed where she was until an officer came to her rescue.
“She packed my wound for me and she kept an eye on the surrounding area,” Askins said. “I knew everything was over when we had multiple officers come over and they tell me they got him. I was able to breathe.”
Two people were killed and six others were wounded in the shooting. All six injured are expected to survive, officials said.
Askins said she’ll likely remain in the hospital for several more days. She still has the bullet lodged in her vertebrae and will have it removed in a later surgery, she said.
But Askins said this won’t slow her down in finishing her studies and pursuing her dreams.
“I’m glad to be with my family, glad to keep moving forward. I’ve got an internship lined up. I’m so ready to go for it,” she said.
“I’m not gonna let it tear me down,” she added. “No, he doesn’t get that.”
The suspected gunman, 20-year-old FSU student Phoenix Ikner, was shot by officers and is also expected to survive, authorities said. A motive is not known.
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