An Army veteran wounded in the Umpqua Community College shooting while protecting people earlier this month posted his account of the attack on his Facebook page — describing the gunman as acting like he was in a "video game."
Chris Mintz, at student at the college, was one of the nine people wounded in the rampage. Ten died, including shooter Christopher Harper-Mercer.
Shortly after being released from the hospital, Mintz on Thursday posted his own lengthy account of the shooting on his Facebook page.
"It started so normal, the day that is. Work went well and I had plans for coffee with a friend before school," he began. "I was in my writing 121 class."
His teacher, he said, was "going over assignments, making the class laugh."
Suddenly, he said, "there was a bunch of yelling that started in the other room, my teacher walked up to the door that connected" the classrooms and "asked if everyone was ok."
"The teacher knocked on the door and there were gunshots that sounded like firecrackers going off," he said.
Mintz, who sat in the front middle of the class, said he held the door open as others left.
"We all took off running," he said.
He said he ran into the library to warn people. He "told everyone they needed to leave and go to the other side of the campus, I ran through the book [a]isles while yelling and pushed the emergency exits closest to registration open and ran through them."
On the campus, people "were walking around like nothing was going on, so I continued yelling at them to get out of there... [I] saw a young girl who seemed to just be showing up to school and I yelled at her 'you cant be here' 'there’s somebody shooting, you need to leave,'" he said.
"Her face, it changed, she seemed so scared," he said. He then went back toward the classroom where the shooting was happening.
"I didn’t know where he was," he said. "A guy that was further away and hiding behind cars startled me and yelled 'don’t man, hes going to shoot you man,'" he said.
He looked through a door window into the classroom, which was full of people: "there was so much blood and it was so dark ... I could only see one of the students through the door, she was screaming and yelling and covered in blood, I motioned my finger over my mouth communicating to be quiet and motioned both my hands down for them to stay down."
"I put my back up against the door and was just waiting, I heard the sirens coming down and yelled to the guy in the parking lot, 'you need to go get the cops' 'tell them where we’re at.'"
The shooter opened a classroom door, leaned out, and "started shooting as I turned toward him," Mintz said.
"He had a black shirt on, a shaved head, was tan and wearing glasses, he was so nonchalant through it all, like he was playing a video game and showed no emotion," Mintz said.
"The shots knocked me to the ground and felt like a truck hit me. He shot me again while I was on the ground and hit my finger, and said 'that’s what you get for calling the cops' and I laid there, in a fetal position unable to move and responded 'I didn’t call the cops man, they were already on the way,'" Mintz wrote.
When the gunman tried to shoot Mintz's phone, the Army vet yelled, “its my kids birthday man.”
"He pointed the gun right at my face and then he retreated back into the class. I’m still confused at why he didn’t shoot me again," he said.
"My legs felt like ice, like they didn’t exist, until I tried to move. When I moved pain shot through me like a bomb going off. I couldn’t move, his shots knocked me down onto my right hip, I tried to use my right hand to push myself. I started to lose track of time but it felt like I laid there for days. I saw the first officer appear, coming towards me," Mintz wrote.
Mintz heard gunfire between the shooter and police. Authorities said the gunman fatally shot himself.
"While still laying there, some students ran out of the classroom, some covered in blood," Mintz said. A friend knelt besides him, he said, "I think she tried to pray with me, the only thing I could say was, "its my son’s birthday' 'please call my sons mom and tell her, I can’t pick him up from school today.'"
Eventually, "an EMT I am friends with was one of the first responders on the scene. I looked up and saw him walk up to the classroom door and said 'hey buddy,'" Mintz said. "He looked at me and responded 'hey.' When I saw him, I KNEW WE WERE ALL GOING TO BE OK."
Mintz said he was struck five times: once in the left leg, once in the right leg, once in the abdomen, once at the top of his shoulder blade, and in his left finger.
He finished, "I am recovering well and thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers."
