A man who found himself caught up in Ohio’s deadly mass shooting at the weekend has praised God for keeping him and his girlfriend safe during the ordeal.
Camryn Crowder and his girlfriend headed out the Oregon district of downtown Dayton for their first night out since welcoming their new baby into the world. What they didn’t know was that this fun and relaxed evening was about to turn into a nightmare as a masked gunman drew a semi-automatic weapon and opened fire indiscriminately on partygoers.
Heart-thumping surveillance footage showed Crowder throwing himself atop his girlfriend in order to shield her from the speeding bullets. Incredibly, despite live rounds striking the ground all around them, the pair survived.
“I saw people getting hit. I literally saw them fall,” Crowder said, according to The Independent. “I was certain that I was going to be next in line, really, at some point.”
Crowder then bundled his girlfriend across the sidewalk to a nearby wall in order to shelter her from the gunfire. He can then be seen slowly lifting his head to see whether the gunman is out of range. Moments later, the two sprint to safety.
“I was pretty nervous,” he told CBS News. “It was really about me getting her out of the way … making sure that she was safe.”
Camryn described the scene as a “trail of bodies laying there,” adding that he saw “four people that had gotten hit” just “laying on the sidewalk and in the middle of the street.”
Reflecting on the shooting, which claimed the lives of some ten people and injured many more, Crowder said that he was “one of the lucky ones,” and praised God for His protection.
His girlfriend, however, recognized the weight of his actions in those terrifying, panic-stricken moments.
“He’s the best boyfriend in the world,” she said. “He has a big heart, a good heart, and now finally everyone can see that.”
Crowder concluded that the pair had been spared only by “the grace of God.”