LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It’s difficult for Whitney Austin to recall the most horrific day of her life.

On September 6, 2018, a lone gunman unloaded a 9 mm pistol in the lobby of the Fifth Third Center in Cincinnati. Three people were killed. Two were injured, including Whitney.

“I did take a little extra time to kiss my kids. they asked for an extra kiss that morning and I gave them an extra kiss and then I jumped in the car like always, hustle and bustle try to get up to Cincinnati quickly," Whitney said.

Whitney went through with her normal morning routine. She worked at the building as an executive. That day quickly turned into a nightmare as she entered the lobby’s revolving door.

“As soon as pushed into the door is when I was hit by the first barrage of bullets which mainly hit my right arm and then across my chest and into my left arm," Whitney said. 

The force of the gunshot was so powerful she collapsed. She says she knew, without a doubt, she was at the center of a mass shooting.

“I looked down onto Fountain Square and thought someone will save me but there was nobody out there and then my last thought was get to the phone make a phone call try and call for help and as soon as I went to move my left arm to go get the phone is when I got shot a second time by another barrage of bullets and so at that moment it was very very difficult, I was in the depths of despair and I thought there is no way out of this situation. I have just been shot because i moved the only thing I can do right is to play dead," Whitney said. 

Help was on the way, and Cincinnati police arrived within record time. Four officers took down the shooter through a glass pane. Whitney immediately looked eyes with officer Al Staples and began communicating these words to him.

“I have a five and a seven-year-old who need their mother. you have to save me, you have to get me out of here. He couldn't immediately save me because the shooting was still going on behind me but as soon as it was safe i.e. the shooter had been taken down he jumped up he grabbed me and he helped me walk out of the revolving door," Whitney said. 

She was shot a total of twelve times but not once did a bullet hit a major organ or artery. She's grateful to be alive and her mind often circles back to what life was life before the shooting when gun violence was simply something she thought about.

“I had taken some steps to join a local group i had received text messages but I never showed up to any meetings never did any one really single thing in my mind and so when I was stuck in that revolving door that's what I thought about. I thought about the fact that i had done nothing to prevent this situation from happening and how dare i I believed that I’d be so immune to it that I would never experience it here I was experiencing it," Whitney said. 

She quickly formed the non-profit, “Whitney Strong” and hopes to create some real results.

“On the bill front on we are focused on passing Extreme Risk Protection Orders in the state of Kentucky and our biggest milestone yet is that we have secured three co-sponsors that work on it and it is a bipartisan coalition and i’m very proud of that," Whitney said. 

She say she wants to spread awareness and policy surrounding Extreme Risk Protection Orders.

“I think about what happened to me if you think about what's happened across our country in so many of these mass violence incidents there were red flags there were warning signs and just like someone can't say bomb on an airplane and nothing happen you shouldn't be able to say, "I have a gun and I’m going to go shoot people in my work place without something happening," Whitney said. 

If you'd like to connect with her group, Whitney Strong, click here.