FSU shooting survivor recounts pulse-pounding moments she played dead while alleged gunman Phoenix Ikner reloaded weapon nearby
A graduate student who was wounded in the Florida State University shooting Thursday survived the harrowing attack by closing her eyes and “playing dead,” she said Friday.
Madison Askins, 23, was walking with a friend near the student union Thursday morning, when she was shot in the buttocks from behind, she told ABC News.
She fell to the ground and did everything in her power not to move.
“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.”
“I know for certain if I was moving he would’ve shot me again,” Askins said — adding she heard the killer reload his weapon and mumble, “Keep running” as students scattered.
The gunman eventually left the area and Askins stayed on the ground still until an officer came to her rescue.
Here is the latest on the Florida State University shooting
- Shooter opens fire on FSU student union, leaving at least 2 dead, multiple injured
- Some students at FSU shooting are Parkland massacre survivors, victim’s dad says
- FSU shooter brandished rifle, then pistol, out of orange Hummer, shot woman ‘right in front of him’: student witness
- Phoenix Ikner ID’d as FSU shooting suspect, son of sheriff’s deputy with access to her firearm
“I knew I just needed to stay calm,” she told the station. “I knew everything was over when we had multiple officers come over and they tell me they got him. I was able to breathe.”
Askins still has a bullet lodged in her vertebrae and will have it removed in a surgery in coming days.
“I’m not gonna let it tear me down,” she added. “No, he doesn’t get that.”
The alleged gunman, Phoenix Ikner, 20, killed two people and wounded five others before he was shot by officers Thursday. He is also expected to survive.