Birmingham mass shooting survivor describes seeing people ‘laid out all over the sidewalk and gun smoke in the air’

PINSON, Ala. (WBRC) - 24-year-old Gabriel Eslami says he’s blessed after being shot during Saturday’s mass shooting in Birmingham’s popular Five Points South area. He’s now recovering at home in the Pinson area.

“Standing there and all of a sudden you hear rapid fire, full auto gun shots just ring out,” Eslami said.

Eslami was waiting in line with friends for a high school reunion at Hush when he heard the shots.

“As I’m running, all of a sudden I couldn’t feel my leg anymore. And I just dropped and it didn’t even dawn on me that I had gotten shot. I turn around the and it’s just people laid out all over the sidewalk and there’s gun smoke in the air. It’s almost like a horror movie,” Eslami said.

Eslami tells WBRC a bullet went through his butt and came out his inner thigh which narrowly missed vital arteries. His friend who was also grazed by a bullet came to his aide and rushed him to UAB.

“By the grace of God, it missed everything. No artery, no blood vessels, no bone. I was told it was millimeters away from hitting my artery,” Eslami said.

His dad Mo was waiting outside UAB. He says as the crowd was growing, everyone was anxiously waiting to find out about their loved ones.

“It’s the worst feeling in the world not knowing if I’m going to see my son again,” Gabriel’s dad Mo said.

Once inside the hospital, Eslami described the bloody scene as he made his way to see his son. Images he can’t get out of his head.

“As I walked through the trauma unit there was bed after bed after bed of young people blood everywhere and the worst part of it was not knowing whose going to make it and who’s not going to make it,” Mo Eslami said.

It was a big relief when he saw his son knowing things for them could have been a lot worse.

“No parent wants to bury their child. Its got to stop. If people have issues with each other –there are other ways besides resorting to violence and ruining your life as well as ending another in the process,” Gabriel said.

Gabriel’s dad echoes that and says something has to give when it comes to all the violence.

Get news alerts in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store or subscribe to our email newsletter here.