Alabama mass shooting victim describes terrifying moments
A survivor of the mass shooting outside of an Alabama nightclub says he is thankful as he describes the chaotic and terrifying moments.
Gabriel Eslami said he was waiting in line to get into Birmingham's Hush Lounge when the gunfire erupted.
"People just laid out on the sidewalk with the smoke of the guns wavering over the sidewalk," Eslami said. "It literally looked like a war scene."
A war scene in front of the popular nightclub in what would be a deadly Saturday night.
Police said multiple shooters opened fire into a crowd standing outside around 11 p.m., hitting 17 people in total.
Birmingham police Officer Truman Fitzgerald said the victims were on the sidewalk and street when the shooting began.
Police believe the shooting was not random and stemmed from an isolated incident. Multiple people were caught in the crossfire.
The intended target was among the dead and police think it was a hit that did not have anything to do with nearby businesses.
Eslami spoke to sister station WVTM from his bed after a bullet tore through his buttocks.
"Initially, I thought they were shooting up the front of the line because that's where they were, in the front," Eslami said. "They were shooting down the line because I was in the very back."
But others didn't get a chance to run for cover.
Anitra Holloman, 21, from Bessemer, Tahj Booker, 27, and Carlos McCain, 27, both from Birmingham, were pronounced dead at the scene.
The fourth victim has been identified as 26-year-old Roderick Lynn Paterson Jr.
Four of those injured are in critical condition.
Eslami describes the terror in the moment.
"When the shots rang out, I ran and within two seconds of me running, I couldn't feel my leg and I just fall and it didn't even dawn on me that I got shot," Eslami said. "My first thought was I can't get shot again, so I pick myself up. I kind of turn back and look back, and I almost wish I hadn't. It was bodies on the sidewalk, shoes everywhere, accessories, wallets, and then the gunshot smoke."
And in the aftermath, a realization of what had just happened.
"People running in every direction still, it was just pure chaos, and I'm sitting there in that chair trying to use my shirt as a tourniquet, trying to stop the bleeding for a little bit," Eslami said.
Eslami said his friend rushed him to the hospital, where he learned from doctors the bullet went into his buttocks and out of his thigh, just milliliters from a major artery. Now recovering at home, he looks back at last night and the carnage — thankful but still filled with sadness.
"It's scary knowing how close I was to dying," Eslami said. "I wonder to myself why me and why not somebody else who passed away."
