COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KDVR) — A survivor from the mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs is sharing his story of how he was shot in the leg but still made it out alive. 

“At 11:57 p.m. someone walks in and starts shooting. They shot up the door first then came around the corner and that’s where the bar area is and rapid-fire shots all across the bar area, glass shattering, people falling,” said Jerecho Loveall, who was shot in the lower portion of his right leg.

Loveall said he had been at the club with his wife and girlfriend. He said he’s been attending this club for years because it was a place he felt accepted and not judged for being in a polyamorous relationship. 

“I’ve lost the one place I never feared,” Loveall said. 

He said he was taking a dance break at the bar when the gunshots took over the sound of the music. He said he immediately tried to help people but then was stopped. 

“I tried to move then I couldn’t and I assume at that point I was hit. I hit the ground and stayed there until the firing stopped,” Loveall said. 

He said the shooter then moved further into the club heading towards the patio area but then was stopped by patrons inside, people he said are now heroes. 

“It was five to 10 minutes from the first gunshots to the time he was down but it felt like forever,” Loveall said. 

Once he finally made it outside, he said he didn’t know if he was safe but then realized his gunshot wound. 

“I was in the front of the building. I have to assume I was one of the first people hit,” Loveall said. 

He found his wife and girlfriend safe and was taken to Penrose Hospital.

“Lucky is a way I feel. I’m lucky to be here I’m lucky to be able to tell this. We can’t hate people and try and change them for who they are,” Loveall said. 

He said the wound was a through-and-through, which is a wound where the bullet goes cleanly through the affected area. He will have to walk with a cane until he heals.