San Bernardino County firefighters rush to save lives amid hail of bullets in Las Vegas
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- Even though San Bernardino County firefighter Dave Arnold is back on the job, he said it's been hard to sleep knowing that three days ago, he was there when the gunman opened fire on the crowd at a country music festival in Las Vegas.
"It wasn't the sound. You could feel the air moving right past your head, your body. You could see the dirt and grass popping up from the bullets hitting the dirt," Arnols said.
It had started out as a great weekend for Arnold and some of his buddies from the fire department.
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"Just doing the Vegas experience, spending time with friends, having a good time," said Arnold.
He said he and firefighter Mike Kordich were about 25 feet from the stage when the shooting started.
"I felt this wetness on my face, like a splatter, and I thought someone spilled her drink, and I look at mike and rub it off and saw it was blood, and we look over and we saw someone fall to the ground," Arnold said.
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They ran to the victim and started CPR. "I was trying to hold compressions on his neck while getting assistance from other people," Arnold said.
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All this, while under a hailstorm of bullets.
"The gunshots were getting closer, they were coming over our head and next thing I know is I look over and I see mike's arm get hit, and he says, 'I'm hit, Dave, I'm hit,'" said Arnold.
Arnold said he helped Kordich up off the ground, and to the car of a Good Samaritan.
Kordich is in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the arm. Arnold said it was just instinct not to run, but to stay and help.
"Most of us have that intuition, being a public servant, helping the person next to you, doing the best to make a difference," said Arnold. "You see a person in need, it's hard to run away from that."
