NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — It was around 11:30 p.m. Saturday when police got the call about a possible shooting on East Bayview Avenue in Norfolk.

They arrived in the area where Bayview meets Chesapeake Boulevard and found a man who’d been shot outside the 7-Eleven — and he wasn’t alone.

“We were across the street from the 7-Eleven where the incident occurred and that’s how our night started out. Started out great and it didn’t end so great,” recalled nursing student Chelsea Knupp.

Knupp was at a restaurant watching a baseball game that night when her fiancé stepped out for a moment.

Over the clanking glasses and small talk, Knupp says they heard about seven loud pops from outside.

“As soon as I heard it, my head snapped over, and all I could say out loud was, ‘Those were definitely gunshots, right?'” she recounted.

A bartender quickly suggested someone should call 911, but Knupp was already on it.

“I stood up, I grabbed my phone, immediately called 911, and walked up to the door and I look across the street and I see this guy who’s just got all this blood running down his leg,” she said.

Knupp started scanning the street for her fiance and realized he was already by the shooting victim’s side. Before she knew it, Knupp was there too.

“The guy had been shot three times that we could see. He was shot once in the arm, once in the upper abdominal area, the third shot was in his femur. I believe the bullet was lodged in there, but that was the big bleeding wound that he had,” she said.

The pair used their own clothing to stop the bleeding the best they could while also trying to distract the man. 

“The first thing we did was take the shirts off our backs and apply pressure to this guy’s leg wound,” explained the nursing student. “In order to keep him out of shock, we sat him down trying to ask him ‘Who are you? What do you do for a living? What’s your life like?’ Trying to keep him distracted.”

The couple worked for several minutes administering first aid before first-responders were on scene.

“Big shout out to Norfolk EMS,” said Knupp. “They were fantastic, their response time was so quick.”

Norfolk police say the man survived his injuries.

Knupp doesn’t think that’s because she and her fiance were there, but it’s hard to imagine he’d be better off if they weren’t.

“I hope he’s doing well. I really do,” said Knupp. “I’m sure his leg is probably gonna take many months to heal up and stuff, but if anything, he’s just lucky he’s so, so, so lucky getting shot very close range like that multiple times. I’m just amazed that guy was able to get out of this situation with his life.”

She hopes other people would have done the same.

“As long as you assess the situation and your environment before administering any kind of first aid to anybody, I would hope more people would feel inclined to come forward and step forward,” she said.

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