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Nurse stops to perform CPR on victims while escaping Dayton shooter

Experts: Blaming Mass Shootings on Mental Illness Is 'Stigmatizing'

When a gunman opened fire outside a bar in Dayton’s popular Oregon District Sunday, critical care nurse Kayla Miller began running for the exit.

Then she looked down the sidewalk and saw a row of injured victims, some alive and some far from breathing again.

Instead of continuing to flee, Miller stopped to perform CPR on the wounded.

» Opinion: AJC Editor, a Dayton ex-resident, on the mass shooting

In an interview with TODAY's Gabe Gutierrez, she said, "I'm grateful to be able to be alive and talk to my family and friends and tell them I'm OK, but my heart breaks for these families. It's just not fair."

Miller told TODAY she was at the neighborhood’s Ned Pepper’s Bar for a friend’s 25th birthday when the 24-year-old gunman opened fire around 1 a.m., wreaking havoc and causing district patrons to seek refuge inside the bar.

Before the gunman could make his way inside the venue, police stepped in. According to an audio recording from Dayton Police, the first shot rang out at 1:05 a.m. Thirty-two seconds and 65 firings later, he was taken down.

» RELATED: What to know about the victims of the Dayton shooting

In those short 32 seconds, nine people died and another 27 were injured. The tragedy came less than 24 hours after the horrific mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in which 22 people died at the hands of a 21-year-old gunman.

As of Aug. 8, according to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 255 mass shootings (incidents in which at least four people are shot excluding the shooter) so far in 2019. In other words, there have been more mass shootings in the United States this year than there have been days.

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