'I just need to play dead': Florida State University student on surviving campus shooting
The first publicly identified victim among the six students shot in a gunman's April 17 rampage on campus is speaking out from her hospital bed at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare.
Madison Askins, 23, one of the shooter's victims, told CBS Evening News in an interview that she did everything she could to look like she was dead.
"The minute I got shot, I remember my parents telling me I just need to play dead," Askins said to a CBS reporter. "I didn't want him to shoot me again, God forbid it."
She said she released all the muscles in her body, closed her eyes and held her breath as she listened to Ikner talk to himself while he reloaded his gun.
Ikner killed Robert Morales and Tiru Chabba : Morales was the university's dining coordinator and one of the founders of Gordos Cuban Cuisine in Tallahassee; Chabba, visiting from South Carolina, was the regional vice president for Aramark Collegiate Hospitality, the food service provider for the university.
First responders reached Askins and started tending to her wound. "The minute that lovely officer touched me was the minute I opened my eyes," she said.
Askins said she fought every urge to call her parents while lying there, as reported by NBC.
"I definitely thought it was the end," she said. "When I started to spiral a little bit, I did reach that point where I really want to tell my family I love them."
Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare said the six victims are all in "stable and fair conditions." Doctors treated gunshot wounds to their extremities, to the torso and even the face.
"These folks are definitely very fortunate," said Brett Howard, a trauma surgeon, during an April 18 press conference at the hospital.
Local government watchdog reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com . Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa .
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU shooting survivor played dead to escape campus gunman's rampage
