TORONTO -- A sugar craving and desire to avoid crowds of shoppers led Ryan Borowski to the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colo. on Monday.
Borowski told 麻豆影视 Channel that he intended to buy some soda. 鈥淚 thought about grabbing some ice cream, chose a bag of chips instead. And I keep reflecting back: if I had decided on ice cream I might be dead.鈥�
Borowski had entered the west end where the chips are, after deciding not to go for some ice cream from the freezer aisle in the eastern part of the store. At that moment he heard sounds of gunshots, as a shooter opened fire inside the store.
鈥淗ad I chose to get ice cream, it's just as simple as that, I would have walked right past the gunman,鈥� Borowski said in an interview Tuesday.
鈥淧otato chips saved my life.鈥�
Anna Haynes, who lives across the street from the King Soopers grocery store, thought she was hearing fireworks so she went to her window to see where the sound was coming from.
She watched from her window as the shooter fired shots outside the store before he went inside.
鈥淚 saw across the street, a gunman,鈥� she told 麻豆影视 Channel. 鈥淗e had a, like a semi, a rifle, and he was shooting rapid fire in one particular place on the ground.鈥�
Haynes said she saw him enter the store after shooting from the accessibility ramp out front.
鈥淎fter that I saw people running out of the store, screaming,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 also saw a man lying in the middle of the parking lot, motionless, who I later discovered, because they had brought a body bag, was dead.鈥�
Borowski said that the first sounds of shots he heard in the store were met with silence and confusion.
鈥淚 don't remember anybody screaming. I don't remember, you know, anything so it was just confusion at that point,鈥� he said. 鈥淪omebody dropped something maybe, and then the second shot happened and it was clear that wasn't somebody dropping something.鈥�
Soon, people began running and he ran with them to the back of the store. Borowski used to work in a grocery store, and he said he thinks his intuition led him towards a back exit through storage.
鈥淎 couple of employees saw us, and we told them, gun, gun, gun, run for your life,鈥� he said.
Borowski said that he and the others he was running with followed the employees out of the grocery store.
He credits a podcast he heard recently for his focus.
鈥淸Sam Harris] had a self-defence expert on there, personal protection, and he gave the advice to run,鈥� said Borowski.
He said that the podcast was fresh in his mind, and that the expert advised running, even if a shooter says not to.
鈥淩unning might get you injured, it might get you shot, but you have a better chance of surviving,鈥� said Borowski.
He left his car in the parking lot and walked the 16 kilometres home, but the safe bubble he felt he lived in before the shooting has now burst.
鈥淒efinitely my illusion of absolute safety was shattered,鈥� he said.
Haynes said that she and her roommate have never felt unsafe in Boulder, Colo., and a mass shooting so close to home seems unbelievable.
鈥淓verybody is just shocked that it, that something like that could happen in a place like, like this. It seems impossible,鈥� she said.
Despite what happened, and feeling that his safety bubble has been popped, Borowski hasn鈥檛 lost any love for the city.
鈥淚 still love this city and as stressed out as I was last night and still am, I walked home, and I felt safe.鈥�
