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"FacebookPinterest\n\n Daniel Hernandez Jr. (21, junior at the University of Arizona, intern for Representative Giffords): I had thought I wanted to be a physician. Then I volunteered for Hillary Clinton's campaign. I've always been drawn to strong women. They face a double standard, and it's always been a lot harder for them to get half as far, even though they're working twice as hard. The day after Hillary lost the primary, I met Gabby. She had been the youngest woman ever elected to the Arizona state senate. I had an interaction with her at an event, and she just left the biggest impression. After that, my plans changed. It wasn't that I didn't like medicine. I just thought I would be able to serve more people if I went into public service.\n\n My internship was supposed to start on January 12, when school begins, but I'd volunteered to start early, because between semesters the office is short-staffed. I've known Gabby for years\u2014I'd worked on her campaigns since I met her in June 2008. She's the kindest, warmest individual you will ever meet. \"I don't do handshakes, honey. I do hugs,\" she always says.\n\n Patricia Maisch (61, co-owner with her husband, John, of Oro Valley Heating Cooling): I was there to thank Gabrielle for her work over the last several years. So much is reported about how the stimulus package didn't work, but for our small business, it was incredible. There was a $1,500 federal tax credit if you upgraded your heating-and-cooling system, and we had our best year ever in 2009. I went there to tell her I hoped she would run again in 2012.\n\n Bill Badger (74, retired army colonel): I'd never met her, but the congresswoman and I had communicated back and forth on e-mail. Her husband is a captain in the navy, which is equivalent to a colonel in the army. So she's a military spouse, and my wife is a military spouse. Obamacare was one of the issues I e-mailed her about, especially military medical benefits for life. She was exceptionally good at responding. If I had a question, she'd get me an answer. I'm a Republican and she's a Democrat, but she works all the way from the right to the left. I truly admire her.\n\n Hernandez: I had gotten up at seven forty-five that day, like I usually do. Gabe Zimmerman, Gabby's community-outreach director, had organized the 10 a.m. \"Congress on Your Corner\" event, and he asked me to be at the Safeway at the corner of Ina and North Oracle by 9 a.m. to help with setup. When people started arriving, I went to the back of the line with my clipboard, taking down people's information so if we ran out of time, we could send them a letter acknowledging them for coming. That generally didn't happen, because if there was a crowd, Gabby would rarely leave, even if she was late to the next event. But just to be on the safe side, I was registering people.\n\n Maisch: I got there early, and I signed in with Daniel\u2014I know that's his name now. I was fourth or fifth in line. I asked him, \"Are we going to go in order?\" and he said yes. I told him I'd be right back and went into the grocery store and bought a banana and a bottle of water and came back out. Now there are twenty to twenty-five people there. I could have pushed back up to the front, but I thought, you know, \"I'm not going to be pushy. I'm just going to go to the end of the line. It's a beautiful day. I can stand in the sun.\"\n\n Badger: When I got there, Giffords had a big banner up with her name on it. I just walked right up and got about ten feet from her, and an aide stepped up and said I had to get in line. So I walked down to the end and registered. It was less than five minutes from the time I parked my car to when I heard the shooting: bang, bang, bang, bang.\n\n Hernandez: I had just checked in Bill Badger when I heard what I thought was gunfire. For about half a second, I'm like, \"Oh, maybe it's fireworks.\" And then I heard someone say \"Gun!\" and it clicked: I remembered some of the things that had happened over the last several months. There was a campaign event where an angry constituent had brought a gun but dropped it. And then the door of her congressional office in Tucson was shot at or smashed last March, after the vote on health care.\n\n So I hear the shots, and the first thing I think of is Gabby. Making sure she's okay. I was about thirty to forty feet away from the congresswoman. I heard the shots and ran toward the sound.\n\n Maisch: It didn't sound like a car backfiring. It didn't sound like a balloon popping. It had that horrible sound of gunfire. There was this momentary pause, and then it started again in earnest\u2014you know, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. I thought, \"What should I do?\" My thought was to run, but in that split second, the gunman was already there, and I thought, \"If I run, I'm in his line of fire. He's going to turn from there and shoot at me. I'm going to be a target.\" \n\n Badger: My first reaction was somebody had thrown a pack of firecrackers up where Giffords was talking with the people, just to harass her. But when I turned to look in that direction, I could see an individual shooting. I could see the man standing there with his arm out. He didn't move at first. All he did was turn where he was standing. And he started shooting the people sitting in folding chairs that the campaign had put out for people waiting in line. I knew that soon he was going to be shooting at me. The people on the chairs were hitting the ground. I turned to my left and started to crouch down. When I did, I felt this burning, stinging sensation on the back of my head. I dropped to the ground, and the shooting stopped. Then I stood up, and I was a little bit dazed, because I didn't realize the shooter was walking by right in front of me.\n\n Hernandez: I saw people on the ground, some of them clearly injured. The first rule of triage is you treat those you can and move on, so I checked two or three people\u2014neck, wrist, neck, wrist. I was trying to get to the congresswoman. I'm like: I need to stop how I'm feeling, because having a breakdown, crying, trying to protect yourself\u2014while that's a normal reaction\u2014would not be helpful. At that point, all I wanted to do is be helpful. In high school, I'd completed a program called Health Occupations Students of America. I did the certified-nursing-assistant program and also the phlebotomy program, where I learned how to draw blood. So I knew the basics. I knew maybe a tenth of what an EMT knows in terms of what to do.\n\n Badger: As the shooter was walking by me, somebody hit him over the back of the head with a folding chair. That's when I realized it was him. And when that happened, he hunched forward, and his left hand came out, and it gave me an opportunity to grab him by the left wrist. I took my right hand and hit the base of his neck. Another individual on the other side did exactly the same thing, and he helped me push him to the ground. I had my left knee on his arm, and with my left hand I got a choke hold on him. The other man got his knee right on the shooter's neck. Every time the shooter would move, I would choke him, and he'd go, \"Ow, ow, ow.\" I said to him, \"What in the world would you do something like this for?\" He did not answer me.\n\n Hernandez: I got to Ron Barber, Gabby's district director, who'd been standing next to Gabby. He was my boss, and he was injured, shot in the leg, but he was still giving me orders. Ron is an amazing person, and he was yelling at me, \"Make sure Gabby's okay.\" So I told someone how to apply pressure to his wounds. Then I became tunnel-visioned on Gabby. I was trying to get people to step back. The last thing you want for anyone in that position, regardless of whether they're a congresswoman or not, is have them in a vulnerable position with people gawking. People were saying, \"What can I do to help?\" and I would say, \"Are you a doctor?\" And if they said no, then, \"Stay away.\" Everyone but Gabby kind of ceased to exist.\n\n On election day 2010, she and I had had a private conversation. It had been a hard campaign\u2014every election that Gabby's had has been tough\u2014and this one, we didn't find out the results for days. But that night, the main thing she said to me was, no matter what happens, we need to make sure that we continue helping others. Even back in November, she always placed the emphasis on trying to help others. So now I was determined to help her.\n\n Maisch: I'm wondering if the bullets are going to ricochet when they hit the concrete and it's going to go in and out of my body. I have all these fast thoughts. But instead of hearing more gunshots, I feel this guy pushed to the ground. He's at an angle right against me. It's the gunman, and his back is to me. He's on his right side. He's touching me. Someone has pushed him down, and people are hollering, \"Get the gun, get the gun!\"\n\n He's got the gun in his right hand, and I'm behind him, so I cannot reach it. But almost at exactly the same time, they're saying, \"Get the clip, get the clip!\" Well, the clip, he's pulling it out of his left pocket. And he brings it out along with some other items, and he drops it, and in that second I'm able to grab it.\n\n Badger: It looked like the shooter was reaching for the gun, so another individual reached down and picked it up\u2014just trying to help. But I said, \"Drop it! Quick!\" because I was afraid someone would think he was the gunner and shoot him. The man dropped it and stood there with his foot on the gun.\n\n Maisch: The gunman had on a stocking cap pulled down low around his eyebrows. He hadn't shaved that morning\u2014he had a little stubble. He was of slight build, but I'm only five foot two, so I moved to sit on his ankles to hold him down. Then I notice that Bill Badger's head is bleeding, and for one second I start to panic. I went, \"Oh, my God! Oh, my God, you're bleeding.\" Then I said to myself, \"This is not going to do. You can't panic now.\" So I said, \"Do you want me to get a compress?\" and he said, \"Yes, please.\"\n\n That clip, I had a grip on it so tight. I mean, I went into Safeway with it. I had a death grip on that thing. I just didn't want to take a chance of it getting close to the gun again. Nobody was going to get it from me.\n\n Hernandez: Gabby was slumped down on the ground. The way she had fallen, she was in danger of inhaling her own blood, so I propped her up against my chest to make sure she had a clear airway. Once I had her in my lap, I started checking for wounds. There was a lot of blood coming out of her forehead. I thought: I need to get some pressure on this right away. I didn't have anything. I wanted to take off my shirt or my sweater, but I didn't want to let go of her. So I started applying pressure to her wound directly with my bare hand. She was conscious, and I wanted her to know someone was there. So I said, \"You've been shot. There's a few other injured. We're getting you some help. The ambulances are on their way. Do you understand? If you do, squeeze my hand.\" And she did.\n\nWhen people from Safeway came out to see what had happened, we started yelling, \"Grab us rags! Grab us cloth!\" and they brought out some of the smocks that the people in the meat department wear, which were clean. I started using those to cover Gabby's wound and apply the pressure.\n\n Badger: It took about five minutes until the deputy got there and put the handcuffs on the shooter. I saw dead people and wounded people laying within five feet of where I was standing. It was a terrible scene.\n\n I was all bloody, but at first I didn't know it was my blood. I thought it was somebody who'd been shot. But the woman who got the clip from the shooter, she ran into the Safeway store and got paper towels and water, and she came back and treated my wound. I have a lot of respect for that woman. I'm sure the shooter would have killed a lot more people if he'd have got his gun loaded again.\n\n Maisch: The other man who helped Bill Badger throw the shooter down, Roger Salzgeber, he was real involved with Gabby's campaign, and he saw her and the little 9-year-old girl get hit. Roger's wife, Faith, was right there, too. And Faith took off her sweatshirt and wrapped it around the lady that had brought the little girl, because she was shot, too. Roger's jacket was full of blood. He had blood on his jeans. I didn't know Roger or Bill before. But now I'm calling them my brothers. You know that old western saying, \"If you don't trust your belt, you put on suspenders, too\"? Well, those guys were the belt and I was the suspenders. They're my guardian angels.\n\n Hernandez: The way that I had crouched down on the ground, both of my legs fell asleep, because I was in such a weird, awkward position. And it was a little bit of time before the paramedics arrived, because the authorities have to make sure the coast is clear. Once the EMTs came in, I tried not to get in their way. They told me, \"Hold her in the same position.\" I did that. They were taking care of her medical needs. I wanted to take care of her emotional needs: \"I know you're in a lot of pain, honey, but just stay still. They're trying to help. Do you understand that the police are here? There's not going to be any more shooting. Squeeze my hand. The ambulances are on their way. Do you understand that?\" I was trying to keep her calm and informed, because I know Gabby's an inquisitive person, and she would want to know exactly what was going on, because she couldn't open her eyes and see for herself.\n\n Originally we were going to be airlifted to University Medical Center. However, I saw that there was an ambulance there. I said, \"What's the ETA on the air evac?\" They didn't respond, probably because they didn't know. I took that as too long. I said, \"She's number one priority. We need to get her out of here\u2014now.\" They put her on a board. They told me, \"We don't want you to go in the ambulance. There's no room.\" I said, \"You'd better make room.\" On the way, I continued to talk to her. I told her, \"I'm on the phone right now trying to get ahold of Mark\"\u2014her husband\u2014\"and your mom and dad here in Tucson. Do you understand that?\" Especially when I mentioned her parents and Mark, she squeezed extra tight.\n\n Badger: The EMTs were identifying who was the most seriously hurt, who was alive, who was dead. Eventually they said I would have to go by ambulance to the hospital. They put me on a stretcher and took me down to St. Mary's. The doctor said the first thing we've got to do is an MRI. She read the scan and said there was no damage to the brain or the inside of the skull. The bullet had skimmed the back of my head. I'd only dropped down like six inches when I felt it. I'm sure the shooter aimed directly at my head. I'm the luckiest person going. I really am.\n\n Hernandez: I was covered in blood. I had blood all over my clothes, all over my cell phone. But I stayed at the hospital, in those clothes, for hours. My parents came, and my sisters, and they're just bawling their eyes out, and they're like, \"Why aren't you crying?\" They couldn't understand why I was still trying to keep calm and composed.\n\n Some have called me rational. I think that's the nicest way of putting it. To be quite frank, I think some of my friends would fault me for being too detached when I'm trying to handle stressful situations. But I've had this weird policy since I was young. If you're going to show emotion, it needs to be in a place where it's appropriate.\n\n Rachel Maddow asked me, \"Are you an ice-water-in-your-veins kind of guy?\" I'm not\u2014contrary to what some believe\u2014a completely emotionless robot. But sometimes, although I do care, I don't have the ability to express things as well as others. I'm trying to work on it.\n\n Maisch: I was sitting in my car in a Jack in the Box parking lot a few days later when I got a voice mail from the office of the president. I hadn't eaten all day, and when I got the message, I got boo-hooey. But then I thought, Well, you'd better get yourself together, girl. So I managed to compose myself, and I called the number, and President Obama got right on the phone. He thanked me for my service, and he said, \"I'm hoping to see you in person soon.\" I hadn't yet heard that he was coming to town.\n\n At the memorial, when the president mentioned our names, that brought a couple of tears to my eyes. That's when I reached over to Roger Salzgeber and hugged him. We were seated in the same row. And I reached out to Bill Badger. And I lifted up their hands.\n\n Badger: As a commander in the military, I had an open-door policy. I knew all the people who were under my command, and if we had somebody with any problem at all, I was aware, and they would be taken off flight status. We weren't going to have an airplane accident as a result of somebody who had financial or marital problems.\n\n Since the shootings, that's been on my mind. There had been red flags raised over the years about this young man. How could an individual who tried to get into the army, and was turned down, purchase a gun and ammunition to do something like this? If somebody had taken the appropriate action, this would not have happened.\n\n Hernandez: In the past week, I have gotten 10,000 e-mails. More than 2,000 people have friended me on Facebook. But the most humbling thing was meeting the president and the first lady. I was asked to speak at the memorial, and, well, I have never been known for being a good orator. I'm always more of a blunt speaker.\n\n I didn't prepare any remarks. A friend offered to help with writing a speech. But when I was reading it, I realized that if I had something prepared, it would probably seem very stilted. I didn't think it would be appropriate to have anything that was even remotely unemotional. I thought it would be best to come up with it on the spot, and that's exactly what I did. Once I started speaking, I just kept going. I said I saw glimmers of hope in how people have reacted to the killings. I said, \"We have all come together to realize that what defines us is not the differences. It is that we are all together. We are all a family. We are all Americans.\" I said, \"The real heroes are the people who have dedicated their life to public service, whether it's direct care in nursing or being a physician or being a great representative like Congresswoman Giffords. They are the people who we should be honoring.\"\n\n After I spoke, Mr. and Mrs. Obama both leaned over\u2014I was seated between the president and Sandra Day O'Connor\u2014and told me it was exactly what we needed to hear. But I still reject the use of the word hero, because I am not one. Anybody in my situation would have done the exact same thing."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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