‘It could have been me’: FSU student who saw Gunman shoot first shots recounts the heartbreaking shooting
The members of the Community of the Florida State University will return to the areas in the Student Union building and its surroundings on Friday for the first time from Thursday’s shooting.
They are allowed there to recover the personal belongings they left behind, elements abandoned in chaos when the shots destroyed calm and sent students to flee through their lives.
McKenzie Heeter, a 20 -year -old, was just a meter of the gunman when the shooting began.
“I was leaving the union with food in my hand,” McKenzie recalled. “I noticed [an orange vehicle that looked like a Hummer]. Then I saw it [wearing a matching orange shirt]shaking a bigger rifle … and then took out the gun and shot that woman. It was then that I ran completely. “
McKenzie describes running through the campus in pure panic.
“I made a four -minute mile in sandals. I’ve never run so fast in my life,” he said. “I felt that I had to leave or could be me below.”
While he says that all afternoon he feels surreal, a moment is repeated vividly in his mind: the horrible moment when he saw the suspect firing a woman with purple thickets from behind.
“His back was for him. He was walking. I don’t even think she recorded what happened. That’s what I still think.”
In chaos, McKenzie’s first call was for her mother.
The evacuees observe the work of application of the law on the campus of the State University of Florida (FSU) after a massive shooting in Tallahassee, Florida, USA, April 17, 2025.
Alicia Devine/Via Reuters
“She is my best friend. I just wanted her to know she was fine,” he said.
The researchers say that the gunman killed two people, none of them students and injured six others who have not yet been identified.
One suffered critical injuries but, on Thursday night, he updated with the rest of the injured survivors to a fair condition.
The accused armed man, a stepson of a local sheriff deputy, was also taken to the hospital for injuries that did not enhance life after the law agents shot him.
The researchers say that the suspect used a gun that was once the service weapon of his stepmother. He also wore a shotgun, the researchers say.
While the entire campus continues to process trauma, McKenzie tells ABC News that his sense of security has been destroyed.
“The most heartbreaking part is that everyone feels insecure now. Someone has just come and take that away,” he said.
