The Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks has been a regular hangout for Tyler Spady and his friends, but everything changed on the night of Nov. 7.

“It was just going to be like any other night,” Spady said.

It was college night, a go-to gathering every Wednesday. A friend texted Spady to meet at the bar. As he walked inside, he heard gunshots at the door. He said he knew exactly what the sounds were because he grew up hunting.

Spady’s instincts kicked in, and he ran toward a wall to find cover. He ended up sheltering near the bar and hit his face on one of the counters.

“And now I have a big ole lip,” he said.

While he was still in the bar, the gunfire suddenly stopped and he realized the shooter might be reloading. Spady grabbed several nearby strangers and told them to come with him. They ran toward nearby homes to try to find someone willing to let them inside. He called his mom as he ran to the homes.

“But I was asleep and I heard my daughter down the hallway and heard Tyler crying on the phone,” Shelley Spady explained.

She said she could hear her son pounding on doors, “begging to let him in.”

Tyler was knocking on doors and looking for a safe place for the group to hide, in case the shooter was on the move. He said people inside the first few homes were too afraid to let them in. But finally, a man opened the door. The neighbor checked Tyler for any wounds, and told the 23 year old he was going to be okay.

Tyler made it home safely, and so did the strangers he helped get to safety. His mom says God answered their prayers and brought her boy home. But she knows others won’t have the same chance to hug their children.

“And that breaks my heart,” she said.