LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It was a normal afternoon at the gym for dozens of people on Friday afternoon, when all of a sudden, it wasn't.
A gunman opened fire inside the Las Vegas Athletic Club's (LVAC) Rainbow location just after 1:30 p.m. on Friday, killing a gym employee, and injuring three other people before the suspect was killed by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) officers.
VIDEO: Man shot at LVAC details his accounts of the shooting
One of the victims injured in the shooting told Channel 13 he's grateful to be alive and standing on his own two feet just 24 hours later.
"I never expected that in a million years," John Tiffin said. "Then the next thing you know, the day changed."
Tiffin was wrapping up a workout at the Rainbow LVAC on Friday afternoon when he heard a loud boom.
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One person killed, 4 people injured in gunfire at northwest Las Vegas gym
"I thought it was weights dropping or something, and I was like 'What the heck is going on here?'" Tiffin said.
Then, Tiffin says he heard two more booms–the last one thrust him to the ground.
"I was like, 'What the?' and touched my back, I had blood coming out, and I'm like, 'woah,'" Tiffin said. "I initially thought that the juice bar blew up or something, and a piece of metal came and hit me–I had no idea."
He had no idea until he evacuated the gym, and other people outside told him that he had been shot.
"They were like, 'Are you okay?' I go, 'I don't know, it felt like something hit me in the back!'" Tiffin recalled. "Then, all of a sudden, they pulled up my tank top, and they were like, 'You got shot!' I said, 'Excuse me?' They were like, 'You got shot!' I'm like, 'No way, seriously?'"
In fact, that entire interaction was caught on a viewer video that was sent to Channel 13, which shows the moments after the shooter was taken down by Metro Police, and the moment bystanders told Tiffin he was shot.
Until we asked if Tiffin wanted to see the video, he had no idea it existed.
"When you showed me my actual [wound], wow, that was amazing," Tiffin exclaimed. "To see my back like that–wow, that was shocking, I'd never seen that before!"
Thankfully, Tiffin was released from the hospital Saturday morning, with big bandages on his back and his front side.
Even though he was in great spirits on Saturday, doctors told Tiffin he had a close call.
"When they did a CAT scan on me, the bullet lodged into my muscle in my back, and stopped it from going into my organs–otherwise it would've gone clean through," Tiffin said. "I was overwhelmed, I was shocked. Holy moly."
That close call isn't stopping Tiffin from looking forward.
"I'm not afraid, I'll still go back to the gym," Tiffin said. "I know this kind of thing doesn't happen normally, it was just a freak thing."
We're still waiting to learn more from law enforcement regarding the shooting at LVAC, including information about who the suspect was and what any motive might've been.
Metro Police should be sharing those details at a briefing early next week.
