‘There was blood everywhere’: Birmingham mass shooting survivor says he is ‘blessed beyond blessed’

Gabriel Eslami had spent Saturday with former Clay-Chalkville High School classmates at a reunion when they decided to continue the celebration in Birmingham's Southside.

Eslami, 24, was waiting with friends in line to get into Hush, a hookah and cigar lounge in Five Points South, when the unthinkable happened.

"We were kind of far back in the line,'' said Eslami, who explained he was standing near 20th Street which is a half-block away from the lounge's front entrance.

"All of the sudden, toward where the entrance is, there were just massive amounts of gunshots, definitely over 100 rounds for sure."

Full coverage of Birmingham's Five Points South mass shooting

"In my mind, when it first started happening, I thought they were just shooting at people in the front of the line, but they were shooting up the line,'' he said.

Eslami, like many, started to run for cover.

"As I'm running, I got shot in my left buttocks,'' the Trussville man said. "I fall. It didn't even register in my head that I got shot."

He was able to stand and looked around in shock.

"I look back and it's just gun smoke and peoples bodies laid out on the pavement,'' he said. "My car was parked out front and there was blood all over my car from other people."

Eslami was one of 21 people shot when someone unleashed a barrage of gunfire Saturday night in the area of 20th Street and Magnolia Aenue, in the heart of Birmingham's Five Points South entertainment district.

Police say the shooting was targeted – believed to be a murder-for-hire - and carried out by multiple gunmen, including at least one who used a Glock switch.

Three men and a woman died. Of the survivors, at least three others sustained life-threatening injuries.

Eslami made his way to a diner on the other side of the intersection.

"I hear my name being called and it's one of my friends who was in line with me,'' he said.

That friend, JaMarlin Sewell, had been grazed in the arm and picked up Eslami and carried him to a bench.

"There was blood everywhere,'' Eslami said.

Sewell got Eslami situated, and then went to get his car to take Eslami to UAB Hospital.

"He saved my life,'' Eslami said. "He came back for me."

Sewell rushed Eslami to UAB Hospital. The bullet, he said, entered his left buttock and exited through the front of his body, narrowly missing a main artery.

"I was one of the first people there,'' Eslami said of the emergency room. "When I arrived, I was screaming, 'I got shot, I got shot' and they were unloading someone else. They gave me that wheelchair and rushed me inside."

Within seconds, Eslami said, he was on a hospital table being treated.

"They were awesome. They did everything by the book,'' he said. "Probably the best experience I've ever had in my life. Their trauma unit is amazing."

Eslami's family soon arrived at the hospital and were waiting in the lobby, like so many others.

"They told me it was just doctors coming out saying to other families, 'We're sorry, your son didn't make it, or your daughter didn't make it.'''

Eslami said the entire ordeal was, and still is, traumatic.

"Loud noises never bothered me, like cars or popping noises, but this morning I heard some popping noises that woke me up out of my sleep and I was like still not over it,'' he said. "I'm not used to this feeling."

"Physically, it's hard to walk,'' he said, "but by the Grace of God, it didn't hit anything major."

The unexpectedness of it all is unsettling, he said.

"I purposely stay away from those areas, but Five Points is usually a nice area,'' he said. "There's always officers patrolling, and I had heard Hush had good security."

"Security was doing their job,'' he said, "but no one could have expected a drive-by."

"I never thought I would be a victim,'' Eslami said. "I'm just blessed beyond blessed I got out of there with minimal injuries compared to other people."

Eslami said he regularly comes to Birmingham for Top Golf or Uptown but said he will be hesitant going forward.

"I don't think I can go downtown for a long time,'' he said. "Even the areas you think are better than other areas aren't even safe anymore. Things have changed drastically."