CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Thursday marks one year since the deadly shooting at UNC Charlotte. Two students were murdered and four others were injured.

For many in the UNC Charlotte community, the scars of April 30, 2019 are still fresh.

Matt Hoots, a former UNC Charlotte student, says a year may have passed, but the emotions are still raw and even painful at times.

From the outside, the UNC Charlotte campus is quiet, even picturesque. Hoot says it's a place he's avoided for nearly a year because of the pain that happened inside classroom doors.

"For the people in that room, we're all bonded by that event," he says.

Like most students during finals week of 2019, Hoot was focused on acing his exams.

In his Tuesday anthropology class, Matt walked in ready to give his final speech. However, he never got the chance.

"There were two doors in the classroom, one at the bottom and one at the top. I was at the door at the top and [the shooter] walked in the other end of the room," Hoot says. "The first thing I heard was what sounded like firecrackers going off. It took my brain a minute to register what was going on and then you could smell gun powder."

Hoot says he ran and didn't look back.

"There was no clue running through my mind of how many shooters were in that building," he says. "So, I immediately ran out to the right, and I wasn't sure if there was going to be someone waiting for us to run out of the building."

Hoots says he fled to a nearby gas station to call his family, but the reality of what escaped hadn't set in.

"You never really think in a million years that you're going to be put in that situation," he says.

In the days and weeks that followed, Hoots says he struggled to understand what happened.

"The first few weeks after it happened I would have nightmares. I couldn't come to grips with why that door, why not my door," he says. "I just thought it was not fair for everyone that was living in a disaster, and I was able to run out the other door."

Hoots says he's working to return to his normal life but knows something is forever changed within him, his classmates, and the rest of UNC Charlotte.

"The whole school is forever together and united in that moment," he says. "It causes me to look at myself in the mirror every day and just count my blessings for being alive another day."

UNC Charlotte is holding a Niner Nation Remembers memorial ceremony on Thursday starting at 5:10 p.m. You can watch the ceremony here.