TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – One of the wounded survivors of Thursday’s mass shooting at Florida State University spoke to ABC News Friday.
Graduate student Madison Askins described the horrifying moments to reporter Faith Abubey.
“I took off running, as did my friend,” she said. “Unfortunately, I fell. He tried to help me up, but then I got shot. My friend took off ― valid. And then when I got shot, all I could think of was what my mom and dad always told me to do during an active shooter drill: Stay down, play dead."
Askins was one of six patients who were rushed to Doctors.
Doctors say all the patients were relatively stable despite their injuries. All injuries gunshot-related, from the torso to the face.
“There’s the moment of shock,” a doctor said. “But all were able to talk to us, kind of give us how they’re feeling, where they’re where they’re feeling pain, but all of them were very clear-minded and able to converse with us.”
Out of the six patients sent to Tallahassee Memorial, three went into the operating room.
Tallahassee Memorial is only a few miles away from the FSU campus, meaning patients came in quickly and were able to receive care immediately. The hospital is a level two trauma center.
Doctors and staff were trained and prepared to handle a mass shooting, as they do simulations of an event like this once a year.
“You can never replicate what just happened yesterday without living it,” the doctor said. “But you know, we have all staff respond to it, everything from our blood bank to other personnel that are in other parts of the hospital, our administration, everybody is involved in those simulations.”
Doctors say they believe two of the patients could potentially go home Friday, they would not confirm if one of the six patients is the shooter, who was shot and injured by police.