Vandy nurse recalls scene of fatal theater shooting - WSMV Channel 4
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A Vanderbilt Children's Hospital nurse who was at the Colorado theater the night of the fatal mass shooting last week said she's grateful to be alive.
Mya Bransford was visiting Aurora for a family reunion and was in the theater next door when she heard the shots ring out.
She wound up being one of the first people on hand to help the victims.
As a nurse at Vanderbilt, Bransford has seen all kinds of emergencies. But nothing compares to the horror she witnessed in Aurora.
"People were saying, 'my friend's been shot. I think my friend has been shot. I think I've been shot,'" she said.
Bransford said she was watching the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, when a fire alarm suddenly flashed and a voice on a loudspeaker told everyone to evacuate the theater.
"My first thought is that it was part of the movie or a prank, that someone had pulled the fire alarm from the lobby," Bransford said.
At first, Bransford said she didn't know there had been a mass shooting and didn't know she may be in danger.
But when she got outside, she saw people bleeding and others screaming, and as a nurse knew she had to help.
"Didn't know how many gunmen there were, whether they had been apprehended, so there was a part of me looking around making sure I wasn't going to get caught in the crossfire or anything like that," Bransford said.
With only a couple medics on the scene, Bransford said her nursing instincts kicked in quickly when she approached the first victim she saw.
"She was bleeding from her head and said that her hand was hurting as well. I had some tissues in my purse that I offered to her to help," Bransford said. "I moved to another victim that had a severe injury to his leg and helped to hold some direct pressure and elevation to that to control the bleeding that was happening."
Bransford returned to work Friday and said she's still heartbroken for the victims.
She also can't help but wonder "what if."
"Would I have been in that same theater? Would I have been injured? Would I have survived?" she said.
Bransford said she has no desire to see the Batman movie anymore, or even go back to a movie theater after what she saw and experienced.
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