ROCHESTER, N.Y. — One of the surviving victims of Saturday's mass shooting in Rochester is speaking out, saying, "I didn’t see who shot me or anything, I just felt the bullet in my arm and I knew I had been hit, so I dropped to the ground."


What You Need To Know

  • Emar Bouie is one of the 16 people shot during the mass shooting on Pennsylvania Avenue in Rochester early Saturday

  • Doctors tell him if the bullet struck just two inches closer to his heart, he too would not have survived.

  • He will begin physical therapy and his doctors believe his recovery could take at least three months

Emar Bouie is one of the 16 people shot during the mass shooting on Pennsylvania Avenue in Rochester early Saturday morning, one of the 14 survivors.

Doctors tell him if the bullet struck just two inches closer to his heart, he too would not have survived.

"I heard it and then I felt it in my arm, like because my whole arm basically went numb for a second. And then it just swelled up and I see all the blood just dripping down my shirt. So I had probably had like three seconds of shock and I had to snap back into it and say, ‘get down,’ " said Bouie.

Bouie is from Rochester. He’s 23 years old and is a recent graduate of Alfred University, graduating with a masters degree in business administration. He’s currently employed at Wegmans.

He and his friend went out Friday evening, stopping by the party. Bouie says it was a crowded gathering in a fenced in backyard.

"Me and a group of my friends decided we were going to go for a little bit, you know, probably, 30, 45 minutes at the most, and within that time, things went south,” he said.

Bouie’s friends were not hurt, but he saw many who were. In fact, he says he believes he was right next to the two young people who lost their lives.

"I was by the back gate, and I was over there and somebody was saying, ‘hey there’s some stuff going on out front,’ or whatever and so a bunch of people started running to the front and I didn’t run to the front. Next thing I know, I hear like three shots go off and then one hits me in the arm through the fence. I tried to stay down until basically the firing either slowed up or just stopped," Bouie said.

When the firing slowed and as people were frantically crying and running, Bouie says he got up, checked on his friends and went toward the front.

"And I heard some more shots go off near that area, so I had to drop back down to the ground again and I finally got up and I ran and I’m sprinting through the front. From what I heard, they said it was like a minute of continuous shooting. In my eyes, I thought it was way longer than that, that’s what it felt like at least. When you’re on the ground, shots are flying above your head, left, right, all over, 10 seconds might seem like 10 minutes,” he said.

Bouie says police helped him at the scene and treated him with a tourniquet. An ambulance arrived and transported him to Strong’s Emergency Department. He underwent surgery on Saturday and stayed at Strong until Monday when he was released.

He will begin physical therapy and his doctors believe his recovery could take at least three months.

He sends this message from his traumatic experience, "Put the guns down. That’s the best message I could give anybody."