Paul Kirby, a worshipper at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, recalled the moment a gunman smashed a pickup into the church and opened fire during services on Sunday.
Kirby told WTOL-TV that he was with his wife and their two sons inside the chapel when the crash happened. He said that worshippers initially thought it was an accident and went to help the driver.
“And that’s when I saw the shooter start aiming at people and starting to shoot,” Kirby said. “I turned around and started running for the door.”
Kirby, who was treated for a shrapnel injury, said he didn’t think he’d make it out alive.
“I was panicking and trying to get through the doors as fast as possible, and just expecting a bullet in my back,” he said. “I was just waiting for it.”
Kirby and his wife grabbed their children and rushed for safety. He said his eldest son held open the door so that others could escape.
“I don’t see him cry very often,” Kirby said of his son. “But I saw the fear in his eyes. He was crying … It was the scaredest I’ve ever been in my life.”
Kirby told the outlet that he hopes people will become more unified following the attack instead of turning it political.
“There’s so many people that are so quick to judge, so ready to point the finger at who did it, why they did it, some political reasons, just something, everybody’s making stuff up,” he said. “We can’t be pointing the finger, we can’t make this political. We can’t let this divide us.”
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