"The bullets were coming toward us:" Survivor talks about mass shooting at Cook's Corner
James O'Malley went to Cook's Corner Wednesday night to enjoy a beer and good food with his friend, 67-year-old John Leehey.
The two old friends were having a beer in the picnic area behind the bar when a woman came running towards them.
"She said 'He's coming!'" O'Malley recalled. "I asked her 'The shooter?' She said yes... right when she said yes there was a barrage of bullets — all going toward us."
O'Malley and Leehey ran for their lives with bullets flying towards them.
"The bullets were coming toward us and you could hear them clicking on the ground," said O'Malley.
When O'Malley turned to look for his friend. He saw Leehey falling to the ground. Initially, O'Malley thought he tripped.
"I thought he tripped and then my mind said no that wasn't a trip because he didn't even cushion his fall," O'Malley said as he stammered. "Then, I saw blood. He was hit. Bullets still kept on hitting and the man next to me got hit in the arm. It was a bad wound. I found out later he's the cook."
As the gunfire continued outside, O'Malley ran into the kitchen for safety. He said he locked the door and grabbed a frying pan in case the shooter came after him.
He stayed inside the kitchen, clutching the frying pan, until he heard the sirens of the Orange County Sheriff's Department roaring outside.
"You could see officers, so you knew it was safe to come out," he said. "When I went back outside I saw him resuscitating my friend or trying to and he was gone."
Law enforcement interviewed O'Malley for several hours. In between interviews, he walked over to the brave Cook's Corner employee and thanked her for warning him of the shooting. The young pregnant woman told him she begged the gunman to spare her life.
"She says to the man 'Please don't kill me. I'm five months pregnant. I don't want to die," O'Malley recounted. "He acknowledged that and just told her to get away."
