A student who survived being shot when a gunman opened fire at Florida State University has revealed the two chilling words she heard him utter.
Madison Askins, 23, had been walking with a friend near the student union on Thursday morning when she was shot from behind, telling ABC News that the bullet entered her buttock.
The young woman fell to the ground and knew she had to pretend to be fatally wounded in order not to be shot again by the gunman, following what her parents had taught her if she was ever in an active shooter situation.
She told the outlet that survival mode kicked in and she did everything she could to pretend to be dead.
"I released all the muscles in my body, closed my eyes and held my breath," she explained. "And I would take short breaths in between when I needed to."
Askins added: "I know for certain if I was moving he would’ve shot me again."
Askins also revealed that while she was on the ground, she heard the shooter reload his weapon and mutter two chilling words as students fled in fear: "Keep running."
After the gunman finally left the area, Askins remained on the ground until an officer came to help her.
She explained: "I knew I just needed to stay calm. I knew everything was over when we had multiple officers come over and they tell me they got him. I was able to breathe."
Askins will be undergoing surgery in the coming days as the bullet that entered her buttock remains lodged in her vertebrae.
She shared a defiant message despite the horrific incident, telling the outlet: "I’m not gonna let it tear me down. No, he doesn’t get that."
Two people were killed in the incident and five others were wounded before the alleged gunman, 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, was shot by officers.
Ikner is currently in hospital and expected to survive, with ABC News reporting that police are waiting until he has recovered to charge him.
Officials confirmed that Ikner, who was an FSU student, was found carrying both a handgun and a shotgun.
Before his capture, harrowing footage circulating on social media showed the alleged gunman pacing across a campus green, discharging a handgun while panicked students flee and a bloodied victim lies on the ground nearby.
Additional video clips appear to show the injured individual later receiving medical assistance from responding officers.
According to reports, the 20-year-old suspect is the stepson of Leon County Deputy Jessica Ikner, a law enforcement officer with over 18 years of service. Police said he used her firearm in the shooting.
“This is obviously a heinous crime,” said Leon County Sheriff Walter McNeil. “We will make sure that we do everything we can to prosecute and make sure that we send a message to folks that this will never be tolerated here in Leon County, and I dare say across the state and across this nation.”
While authorities have not released a motive, Florida State student Reid Seybold told CNN that he recognized Ikner from a campus political club several years ago. Seybold said the group eventually removed Ikner due to disturbing behavior.
“He had continually made enough people uncomfortable where certain people had stopped coming. That’s kind of when we reached the breaking point with Phoenix, and we asked him to leave,” Seybold said, adding that Ikner’s rhetoric went “beyond conservatism”.
“It’s been a couple of years now. I can’t give exact quotes,” he added. “He talked about the ravages of multiculturalism and communism and how it’s ruining America.”
Meanwhile, the BBC reported that the FSU student newspaper previously noted Ikner had participated in a protest against Donald Trump’s inauguration. However, the quotes attributed to him were reportedly removed on Thursday.
The latest incident has sparked renewed debate over gun control in the US.
During a press briefing in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump reaffirmed his long-standing support for the Second Amendment when asked about the FSU shooting.
"I'm a big advocate of the Second Amendment, I have been from the beginning," Trump said. "I protected it."
Commenting on the incident, the 78-year-old added: "These things are terrible. But the gun doesn't do the shooting, the people do - a phrase that's used probably too often. It's a shame. I'm just hearing about it now. I know the area very well, I know the school very well, it's Florida."
He indicated more commentary may come later: "I’ll have more to say about it later, about what happened."
Trump added: "This has been going on for a long time. I have an obligation to protect the Second Amendment, I ran on the Second Amendment among many other things, and I will always protect the Second Amendment."