A mom of two who was shot 12 timesduring a bank rampage earlier this monthis speaking out about her near-death experience.
“It felt like a burning sensation,” Austin recalled to the outlet. “I immediately started to cough up blood and that’s when my brain immediately went toward, ‘I’m dying.’ ”
Austin spent five days in a hospital being treated for her injuries. Three other victims and the shooter were killed.
“Thousands of things went right in order for me to live — not only to live but to come out of this emotionally strong,” Austin toldGood Morning America. “For those three, thousands of things went wrong. How is that fair? How does that happen? Why me and not them? I just can’t reconcile it. I try not to spend any energy on it because I’ll never have those answers.”
The Louisville, Kentucky, native — who had been traveling for her job as a senior product manager at Fifth Third — has since started a nonprofit,Whitney Strong, dedicated to reducing gun violence.
“This is about making sure that our kids can go to school and they don’t have to participate in active shooter drills on a monthly basis,” she explained toGood Morning America. “This is so people like me can walk into their place of employment and not get shot 12 times.”
Officers responded to a call for the shooting at 9:10 a.m. local time on Thursday, Sept. 6 at Fifth Third Bank at 511 Walnut Street and exchanged gunfire with the suspect.
Cincinnati mayor John Cranley said at a press conference that the targets of the shooting appeared to be random and that “it didn’t appear to be a dispute between people.”
Cranley described the shooting as “a multiple shooting of innocent victims,” saying it was “horrific. Grotesque.”
source: people.com
