First person shot at Old National Bank shares story of survival, the item that later saved her life

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The tragedy at the Old National Bank in downtown Louisville still lingers heavy on the hearts of many.

For Dallas Schwartz, she said it plays over like a movie in her head. She was the first person shot just moments after she walked into work on Monday, April 10.

"I thought I was going to die that day," Schwartz said.

The day started like any other Monday morning for her. She got her daughter to school and drove across the river to Louisville for work.

"I was right in front of my desk when I came in contact with Connor," Schwartz said.

Her co-worker at the bank, Conner Sturgeon, brought an AR-15 to work, killing five people and injuring Schwartz and seven others.

"I feel like he said I needed to come with him," she said "I lay my bag on the desk and was kind of like, 'What?' I was like, 'I'm confused.'"

Schwartz was the first person shot.

"Next thing I knew I was ... he shot me in the leg and I went down to the ground," she said.

Her co-workers told her later it was that first shot that they believe helped save lives.

"A lot of them say that that was the warning shot for them, to know something was going on," she said.

She became disoriented after she was hit, not realizing she would soon start to bleed out if she didn't act fast.

“When I heard more gunshots, I knew it was real and I just got up and ran the opposite way down the first place that I could hide," she said.

She hid in the bathroom.

“I was really just kind of in survival mode at that point, during what I had to do to make sure that, you know, I got out of there alive," Schwartz said.

Earlier that morning, she contemplated whether or not she needed her winter scarf with a forecast in the 70s. It ended up saving her life.

"I remember having that vivid conversation in my head like, I don't really need it, but then at the last minute I grabbed it and threw it around my neck," she said. "And thank goodness I did because I don't know what made me think, but there was so much blood that I knew I needed to do something."

With her scarf tourniquet in place, she called 911. When she couldn't get through to dispatch she called her mom, then husband.

"I've been shot in the leg. I'm literally bleeding out. I said I'm in the bathroom at work. I love you. I have to go," she said.

Elsewhere inside the bank, Sturgeon opened fire on a conference meeting.

The horrifying event ending when Louisville Metro Police Officer Cory Galloway shot and killed Sturgeon.

Schwartz was still waiting for police inside her hiding place.

"I couldn't hear any anything but gunshots or silence. It was scary when I heard the gunshots, but sometimes the silence was a little scarier," Schwartz said.

Although she was only six weeks on the job as a treasury analyst, Schwartz knew Sturgeon. Some of her co-workers had recently gone out to dinner with him.

"I felt like I did. You know, I was getting to know him," she said.

In the aftermath, we've learned Sturgeon suffered from mental health issues and that his mom even called 911 that morning. Schwartz knows she can't change what happened.

"I don't hold any hate or anything for any of them," she said.

When asked if she forgives him, she wasn't so sure yet.

"I don't know. I don't know. I just know it's not something that I want to have in my heart is hate," she said. "Of course, I don't want ... I wish any of this didn't happen, you know, I wish people hadn't had to lose their lives. I wish he would have had the help."

After she got to University Hospital later that day, she had two surgeries to repair her left leg. She stayed until Saturday, April 15, when she was moved to PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Greater Indiana.

But it wasn't until May 4, nearly a month later, that she finally went home.

"I went home the day before my daughter's seventh birthday," she said.

With her determination, she made it, leaving rehab four days early.

"You're not really promised tomorrow. And, you know, you always hear that and you always know that and you always hear 'life's short,' but it really is," Schwartz said.

While she didn't shed a tear during her interview with WDRB News, she said she's an emotional person.

"I've shed many tears. I've dealt so much with the physical part of it though. I'm not sure if I've really fully scratched the surface at the mental part of it yet," she said.

While her life isn't filled with concerts at the KFC Yum Center right now, day by day she's making progress.

"If anything, I can say out of this whole nightmare is that it's brought amazing people into my life," she said.

A life she's grateful to have with a family who loves her and a community who supports her.

A benefit fund was set up at Stock Yards Bank & Trust to help the family with the unexpected expenses following the shooting.

A GoFundMe page has also been set up, where $10,000 has already been raised. To donate, click here.

The Community Foundation of Louisville's Love for Louisville Old National Survivors Fund was also set up to help victims, their families, survivors and bank employees. To donate, click here.

Additionally, the Louisville Metro Police Foundation is raising money for the families of the five victims who died in the shooting. To donate, click here. The Foundation is also raising money for LMPD Officer Nick Wilt, who is still in critical condition after he was shot in the head when responding to the shooting.

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