OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — Saturday night’s shooting at the Oklahoma State Fair caused thousands to rush the exit, but a 14-year-old boy ran into the chaos to find the victim and help keep him alive.
A fight between a group of boys broke out inside the Bennett Center just before 9 p.m.
As the fight started pushing out the doors, a gunshot went off and the bullet struck what appeared to be a teenage boy.
“All we hear is a big bang,” said 14-year-old fair-goer, Trisedy Gabehart. “And then everyone starts running. Everyone was saying he has a gun, and then everyone starts running to the front. We all ran. I lost my shoe almost, and we had to run back and get it.”
Gabehart told KFOR she and her friends had just entered the Bennett Center when the gunshot went off.
Gabehart said she left her friend, 14-year-old Iliah Miguel by the Bennett Center so she could look for another friend of theirs they’d been split up from.
As Gabehart found her friend and went back to the Bennett Center, Miguel was performing life-saving measures on a victim who was shot in the chest.
“We both went towards Miguel and we were both like, ‘What are you doing?’ He said, ‘I’m trying to help.’ And so Miguel was helping him, trying to see where the bullet was and and trying to keep him awake because he kept trying to, like, pass out. There were multiple people trying to still fight around him,” explained Gabehart.
Gabehart recorded Miguel’s actions on her phone.
That video was provided to News 4. It shows Miguel snapping his fingers in the victim’s face in an effort to keep him alert.
Miguel then peels back the victim’s blood-soaked shirt to find the bullet wound.
As the victim’s shirt is pulled back, a y-shaped gash can be seen on his chest.
Miguel, along with others trying to help the victim, took a hoodie and put it over top of the wound while applying pressure.
“Something just came over me and when I seen that, I just rushed over there and I just started analyzing where he was bleeding from and stuff,” said Miguel. “It was kind of scary. Yeah, it was very… I didn’t know how to react.”
Miguel said this was his first time visiting the Oklahoma State Fair.
He added he has been in a similar situation at a previous school, but he didn’t see anyone get shot.
“I’m processing everything. I’m not really focused on it. I’m focusing on other things,” said Miguel.
“I’m really glad he knew what to do. And he knew how to, like, help him, cause I know I would have just stood there. I didn’t know really what to do. Miguel was mostly the main person doing everything,” said Gabehart. “I’ve seen stuff about this, but I really never thought it would be me in front of this. I wouldn’t really think that I would be in front of it. It happens to so many people, but now it’s happened to me.”
Miguel said he hopes the victim is recovering.
“I hope he’s doing well,” he said.
Miguel’s mother told KFOR she wishes her son and the victim could meet. She wants the victim’s family to know Miguel did everything he could to keep him alive.
Oklahoma City Police confirm the victim is still alive, but say they have not heard any further update on his condition.
Police have arrested a 17-year-old they say was the shooter. He has been charged with aggravated assault.