Security officer hailed a hero for moving wounded to safety in University City shooting
San Diego CA May 3 2017 While a gunman freely roamed an apartment pool party shooting at will and turning the gathering into a bloody war zone, an apartment security officer moved about quickly gathering victims who had been shot to move them to safety.
At a press conference Monday afternoon at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, officials praised the actions of a security gofficer at the University City apartment complex for quickly transporting three victims to waiting ambulances.
Thomas Blea, 34, was one of the injured partygoers.
“I really want to give thanks. He saved us time,” Blea said at a news conference, sitting in a wheelchair outside the facility, his leg still bandaged. “That guy saved us a lot of time. Getting us to the fire department in a safe zone and getting us here.”
As the victims who survived Sunday’s mass shooting in University City continue to recover, chilling new details about the gunman’s actions, including the fact that he was talking on the phone to an ex-girlfriend as he shot people, are beginning to emerge.
Investigators believe 49-year-old Peter Selis was despondent over his recent break up, and that his victims were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
One woman, identified Monday as Monique Clark, has died of her injuries.
Fire Chief Brian Fennessy said firefighters and paramedics who were first at the scene were cleared into the area by police about 10 minutes after the first 911 call came in.
He called the security officer “a hero” for bringing three injured people directly to where emergency rigs were parked.
Blea also praised the praised firefighters, police officers and medical staff who helped him after the shooting.
“It is a terrible experience that we went through but I’m glad that I’m all right. I’m glad that most of my friends are all right. I was alone at one point and they comforted me. Not just treated me like a patient.”
Eight people — the seven shooting victims and a man who broke his arm while running away — were taken to three hospitals. Among the wounded was the man celebrating his birthday.
Clark, 35, was the only fatality. Everyone else is expected to recover, hospital officials said.
Clark leaves behind three daughters, according to a GoFundMe page set up to raise funds for her funeral.
San Diego police Chief Shelley Zimmerman, at a press conference outside police headquarters, said that the security officer was also injured but he continued to save the lives of others.
