A 24-year-old University of Florida law student is recovering after she was shot while fleeing gunfire in Las Vegas.
Tuesday, from her hospital bed, Kristin Babik shared her story first with Action News Jax.
“It didn't feel real until [doctors] told me I actually did have a bullet in my back, and I could see the blood,” Babik said.
Babik said the bullet went between two of her vertebrae, millimeters away from total paralysis.
It also went through part of her lung, collapsing the right side.
It's difficult for her speak but she wanted to share her story of survival.
“People were so scared, and wanting to get out,” Babik said.
Babik, who grew up in Gainesville, was enjoying the Route 91 Harvest Festival with friends early Monday morning.
She, like so many others, initially thought the piercing sound of gunfire was firecrackers.
“After the third time is when everyone started realizing that it was a gun, and everyone started lying down,” Babik said.
Then, Babik ran for her life.
“All of the sudden, I felt something hit my back,” Babik said. “I still didn't think it was a gunshot because I was so scared. I thought it was just, anything else.”
The adrenaline kept Babik moving as hundreds of others were being injured all around her. More than 50 people who were hit died.
“I started coughing up blood, and then I realized I was shot in the back,” Babik said.
Still, Babik said there was no time to stop.
Barely able to breathe, she had to use a table to climb the fence around the venue. She was later picked up at a nearby resort.
She had to be carried to a car of Good Samaritans. Eventually, they got her into an ambulance and on the way to a hospital.
“It doesn't feel real,” Babik said. “I’d just like to say thank you to everyone who helped me get out and got me [to the hospital].”
Babik is in stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery.
She said she should be released from the hospital in the coming days.
“I hope anyone else in a similar condition has a great recovery, and I hope I do, too,” Babik said.