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Stories of those who survived mass shooting in California

December 4, 2015

Flowers are left by the side of the road as a San Bernardino police officer blocks the road leading to the site of yesterday’s mass shooting on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015 in San Bernardino, Calif. A heavily armed man and woman dressed for battle opened fire on a holiday banquet for his co-workers Wednesday, killing multiple people and seriously wounding others in a precision assault, authorities said. Hours later, they died in a shootout with police. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fourteen people died in a mass shooting at a California social services center where county health officials were holding their holiday party. But many more survived the attack by a county restaurant inspector and his wife, though some have serious injuries.

Here are some of their stories.

JULIE PAEZ

The San Bernardino County health worker was attending a holiday work party at the center when the two attackers stormed in and opened fire.

Paez, who tests water safety for the health department, was shot at least twice and a bullet shattered her pelvis, her son, Nick Paez, told The Associated Press by phone.

She managed to send her family a message through a group chat app to say she had been shot and included a selfie that showed just her face, her son said.

“It was a picture of her with a half-smile,” he said. “She just wanted to send us something so we would know what was happening.”

After receiving the photo, the family “didn’t know if she was alive or dead. I mean, I see on the news 14 people dead and she told me she was shot,” he said.

Paez’s father frantically checked hospitals for his wife. At the same time, she was giving nurses in the emergency room her husband’s contact information.

Her family had to wait eight hours to see her as she underwent surgery and then was whisked to the intensive-care unit, Nick Paez said.

The photo she sent helped sustain her son.

“She’s a really strong-willed, tough woman,” he said. “If there’s anyone who could go through it, it’s her.”

KEVIN ORTIZ

Kevin Ortiz heard shots on the other side of the wall just seconds before the shooters burst into the conference room and started shooting.

Ortiz, a 24-year-old environmental inspector for the county, was hit almost immediately and wound up taking five bullets to his back, shoulder and both legs, his father Carlos Ortiz said in an interview outside Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.

He crawled under a desk after getting shot the first time, but was hit a second time as one of the shooters came back around and sprayed more bullets. One of them was at close enough range to leaving a gaping hole in his leg. The shooters were wearing black and had on black masks, he told his father.

Ortiz, who is a deacon at his church, was married several weeks ago, his father said.

“He’s mentioned a couple of times he doesn’t want to go back, he doesn’t want to back there, he wants to quit,” Carlos Ortiz said.

“We’re still in shock. Who would think it would happen to us?”

PATRICK BACCARI

A co-worker of one of the shooters said he was sitting at the same table as Syed Farook at the banquet before Farook suddenly disappeared, leaving his coat on his chair.

Baccari said that when the shooting started, he was in the bathroom and suffered minor wounds from shrapnel slicing through the wall.

The shooting lasted about five minutes, he said, and when he looked in the mirror, he realized he was bleeding.

“If I hadn’t been in the bathroom, I’d probably be laying dead on the floor,” he said.