Shooting victims from Midtown Shooting begin to speak out

MIDTOWN

Surrounded by cameras and reporters as he left /*Bellevue Hospital*/, 23-year-old /*Robert Asika*/ told Eyewitness News exactly what happened to him when the bullets started flying, outside the /*Empire State Building*/.

"I mean, it was just crazy, you know, I was really scared the bullet went in, and came out my right arm," he said. "I'm very, very lucky, very blessed," he adds.

Even though he says he believes his injury was from police gunfire in all the chaos.

"The way the guy was standing, there was no way it would be the guy. It was the police officers that hit the people that got hit," Asika adds.

Robert says he certainly understands that officers had a job to do and things could have been much worse.

Louis Ileras' 30-year-old sister, Erica Solar was also shot in the leg.

"You know, I mean, it's in the news all the time, but for it to hit me, you know like so close, is too much," she said.

Mayor Bloomberg visited the survivors. And investigators now believe that all nine bystanders were struck, in one way or another by police bullets. Robert says he's convinced of that.

Erica Solar was getting a cup of coffee when she was struck in the leg.

"She was just nervous she was going to lose her legs. I kept telling her you're all right," said Christopher Collins.

The shooting happened Friday morning when police say Jeffery Johnson shot and killed a man he used to work for. Johnson was eventually shot and killed by police.

LINK: READ MAIN STORY

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Some information from the Associated Press

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