Nightclub killings: "I pretended to be dead, so he wouldn't keep shooting at me"

Nightclub killings: "I pretended to be dead, so he wouldn't keep shooting at me"
By Euronews
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Some survivors of the Istanbul nightclub shooting rampage say they were lucky to escape

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Survivors of the New Year nightclub shootings in Istanbul have been recounting what happened, with some saying they were lucky to escape.

Lebanese national Francois al-Asmar was one of those injured, suffering a gunshot wound to his shoulder.

He spoke to reporters from his bed in the Okmeydani Hospital.

“He fired just one shot, so I thought it was some angry or drunk man who fired his gun,” he said. “But a few seconds later we heard a machine gun.

“We were already lying on the floor from the first shot. I was hiding behind the table, sitting on the floor, but my shoulder must have been exposed.

“He was shooting us on the floor, he wasn’t shooting in the air but towards the floor where we were lying.

“If I’d been lying down completely, with my whole body on the floor, I would have been shot right along my body. I was actually sitting when I was shot.

“I had to get myself down lower. I pretended to be dead, so he wouldn’t keep shooting at me.”

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