A University of Virginia running back who survived a shooting on a charter bus at the school’s campus last month shared his story.
“As soon as we’re about to stop, I just, you know, hear a lot of gunshots,” said Mike Hollins in an interview with the Pivot Podcast.
The shooting happened on Nov. 13 as the bus was returning from a field trip; three students were killed and two more injured, including Hollins.
He described having to push his way to the front of the bus after the gunfire began.
“I can just remember pushing past my teacher because she was just in shock, pushing past, getting to the bus driver and, like, really telling him to open the door,” Hollins said.
Hollins and another teammate got off the bus, then he turned around when he realized his teammates were still on board, he said. He then saw the alleged shooter, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., coming off the bus and began running.
“I could see him lift the gun as soon as I turn. All I could do in that moment was pray, and I did feel him hit me in my back,” Hollins said. “But he was going to have to hit me more than once for me to stop because I was … still running.”
Hollins ran through a parking garage and when he did not see the shooter chasing him anymore, Hollins said he came back to the bus area.
He met a pre-med student who kept him calm until an ambulance arrived. Hollins said the student later visited him in the hospital.
Hollins underwent surgery, then two days later found out that three of his teammates were killed in the shooting.
“Once I found out, man, it was, it was like a pain I never felt before. I cried. I cried real hard.”