A graduate student from Florida State University shared with ABC News the heartbreaking moments that shot him on the campus and forced to play dead when the armed man recharged.
Madison Askins, 23, one of the seven people shot near the FSU Student Union on Thursday, said he was walking with a friend when he heard shots.
Askins and her friend “took off”, but “unfortunately, I fell,” he said.
The shooting survivor at Florida State University, Madison Askins, 23, spoke with ABC News from his hospital room on April 18, 2025.
ABC News
Her friend tried to help her, but Askins said she was then shot at her buttocks. Her friend ran to a safe place, which she said she was “valid.”
While Askins lay injured, he said he remained calm and thought about what his parents told him to do during active shooting exercises: play dead.
“I released all the muscles of my body, closed my eyes and contained my breathing,” he said. “And I would breathe short when I needed it.”
“I thought [the gunman] I had moved away, so I was going to change to grab my phone to share my last ‘I love you’ with my family, “he said.
“I wanted to call my dad, tell him that I loved him,” he said, cleaning the tears.
But she said that she later listened to the gunman to approach and recharge her weapon. She said she heard him say calmly: “Keep running.”
The students celebrate a vigil near the scene of a shooting near the Student Center of the Florida State University, on April 17, 2025 in Tallahassee, Florida.
Miguel J. Rodríguez Carrillo/Getty Images
“I know with certainty that if I was moving, I would have shot me again,” he said.
Askins said “I didn’t want to entertain” the idea of dying, and added: “I knew I just needed to keep calm.”
Finally, the gunman left and Askins said he stayed where he was until an officer came to rescue.
“She packed my wound to me and kept an eye around,” Askins said. “I knew that everything had ended when we had several officers who came and tell me that they got it. I could breathe.”
Two people died and six were injured in the shooting. The six injured are expected to survive, authorities said.
Askins said he will probably remain in the hospital for several more days. She still has the bullet housed in her vertebrae and will eliminate her in later surgery, she said.
Students honor deceased and injured students near the scene of a shooting at the Student Center of the Florida State University, on April 18, 2025 in Tallahassee, Florida.
Miguel J. Rodríguez Carrillo/Getty Images
But Askins said this will not delay her to finish her studies and pursue her dreams.
“I’m glad to be with my family, I’m glad to keep advancing. I have aligned internship. I’m very ready to do it,” he said.
“I’m not going to let me demolish me,” he added. “No, he doesn’t understand that.”
The alleged armed man, the officers, a 20 -year -old FSU student, were shot by officers and is also expected to survive, the authorities said. A reason is unknown.
