{"id":7234,"date":"2025-04-18T11:09:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T11:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=7234"},"modified":"2025-04-18T11:09:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T11:09:25","slug":"it-could-have-been-me-fsu-student-who-saw-gunman-fire-first-few-shots-recounts-harrowing-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=7234","title":{"rendered":"‘It could have been me’: FSU student who saw gunman fire first few shots recounts harrowing shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Members of the Florida<\/a> State University community will return to the areas in and around the student union building on Friday for the first time since Thursday’s shooting.<\/p>\n

They are being allowed there to retrieve the personal belongings they left behind — items abandoned in the chaos when gunfire shattered the calm and sent students fleeing for their lives.<\/p>\n

McKenzie Heeter, a 20-year-old junior, was just feet away from the gunman when the shooting began.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was leaving the union with food in my hand,\u201d McKenzie recalled. \u201cI noticed [an orange vehicle that looked like a Hummer]. Then I saw him [wearing a matching orange shirt], waving around a bigger rifle \u2026 and then he pulled out the handgun and shot that woman. That\u2019s when I just completely ran.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKenzie describes sprinting across campus in sheer panic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did a four-minute mile in sandals. I\u2019ve never run that fast in my life,\u201d she said. \u201cI felt like I have got to leave or else it could be me next.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she says the entire afternoon feels surreal, one moment replays vividly in her mind — the horrific moment she saw the suspect shoot a woman in purple scrubs from behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer back was to him. She was just walking. I don\u2019t even think she registered what happened. That\u2019s what I just keep thinking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the chaos, McKenzie\u2019s first call was to her mom.<\/p>\n

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Evacuees watch law enforcement work on Florida State University (FSU) campus after a mass shooting in Tallahassee, Florida, U.S., April 17, 2025.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Alicia Devine\/via Reuters<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s my best friend. I just wanted her to know I was okay,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Investigators say the gunman killed two people, neither of them students, and injured six others who have yet to be identified.<\/p>\n

One suffered critical injuries but, on Thursday evening, was upgraded with the rest of the injured survivors to fair condition.<\/p>\n

The accused gunman, a stepson of a local sheriff\u2019s deputy, was also taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries after law enforcement agents shot him.<\/p>\n

Investigators say the suspect used a handgun that was once his stepmother\u2019s service weapon. He was also carrying a shotgun, investigators say.<\/p>\n

As the entire campus continues to process the trauma, McKenzie tells ABC News that her sense of safety has been shattered.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most heartbreaking part is that everybody feels unsafe now. Someone just came and took that from us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the Florida State University community will return to the areas in and around the student union building on Friday for the first time since Thursday’s shooting. They are being allowed there to retrieve the personal belongings they left behind — items abandoned in the chaos when gunfire shattered the calm and sent students […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7236,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7234\/revisions\/7236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}