Imran Yousuf quickly identified the impending threat and remained clear-headed as people died around him.
In an emergency situation — as any first responder can attest — a victim’s first challenge is overriding the paralysis brought on by extreme fear and confusion.
Imran Yousuf, a bouncer at the Pulse nightclub, had an advantage. A Marine who had served in Afghanistan, Yousuf was able to use his training to quickly identify the impending threat and remain clear-headed as people died around him, according to the Marine Corps Times. Because of the 24-year-old’s decisive actions, he is being credited with saving dozens of lives.
He told CBS News that he knew something was horribly wrong as soon as he heard the familiar crack of gunfire. It was then, he said, that his training took over.
“The initial one was three or four [shots],” Yousuf, a former sergeant who just left the Marine Corps last month, said. “That was a shock. Three of four shots go off, and you could tell it was a high caliber. Everyone froze. I’m here in the back and I saw people start pouring into the back hallway, and they just sardine pack everyone.”
Yousuf told CBS that he knew there was a door behind the panicked crowd, but people were too overwhelmed to unlatch it. “And I’m screaming, ‘Open the door! Open the door!’ ” Yousuf said. “And no one is moving because they are scared.”
If they failed to act, the gunman could have appeared at any moment. If someone took action, they were feet from relative safety. Yousuf told CBS there was “only one choice.”
“Either we all stay there and we all die, or I could take the chance of getting shot and saving everyone else, and I jumped over to open that latch [and] we got everyone that we can out of there.”