He Escaped a Mass Shooting

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That's ChumbaCasino.com. This is our American Stories. And every once in a while we just tell great stories about ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things. A mass shooting took place November 7, 2018 in Thousand Oaks, California, at the Borderline Bar and Grill, a country western bar frequented by college students. 13 people were killed. Tyler Spady was one of the roughly 250 patrons there on that fateful night.

Here he is to share his story of survival and hope. The week before the shooting, it just gives kind of a story to what Borderline was. It was a Halloween night where everyone goes and dresses up and you have costume contests. And that night I went as the little boy and up in a full Boy Scout uniform that I borrowed from my neighbor and my buddy Jesse went as Donald Trump. And the whole place was full of people in costumes.

And my dad was in attendance and my sister was in attendance. And everyone was hanging out, playing pool, creating friendships, lion dancing, and having a good time like you usually do at this place. And it wasn't just a bar.

Many people, when you think about it in the news, just think about it like that. But it was an 18 plus place where people would go to socialize in the college years. It was a really amazing place where I would have been going since I was 18 years old, so five years prior to this happening, and knew just about every person who regularly went there.

And especially my friend group of about 20 people that would go regularly and play pool and do the things that college students do. But saying that this even happened in this place, you know, Ventura County is one of the safest counties in the country, according to the FBI. And my dad, knowing these things, this was a safe place where you could trust his daughter and his son to go when we were 18. And it was clean, safe, fun where you're never gonna get in a bad situation. And I mean, he had prepared us for something like this.

We all had bulletproof plates that he had bought us from a place called Defender Body Armor in Camarillo. So going into that night, it's like any other night, we mean, my buddy John was moving to Texas to become a firefighter. So he had come over to the house and we were going to go out and see him off. And my sister who was in Montana a few days prior on her way home from the airport, was in a car accident. So she wasn't able to attend. But it was an off night because the previous week was Halloween. So people were kind of burnt out from it and they didn't want to go.

So we weren't able to get any any of the people that usually come. I am thankful to God every day that Ashley wasn't able to come because I don't know what the outcome would have been having my sister there, if I would have made it or she would have. So I'm very thankful that that happened. And it kind of gives perspective on this whole thing that every single thing in your life happens for a reason.

And it's a good life outcome that I've taken from it. So we got there and saw my friends that had grown up with my whole life out front. So we kind of joined groups and went in together, a group of about 15 people, and started the night.

And it was a good night like any other. We got there about 10, 15 and started hanging out with everyone and taking pictures and dancing, line dancing, and socializing, and creating friendships. And then about 11, 20, my ex-girlfriend who I hadn't talked to in a couple months asked me if I wanted to swing dance. So I went out and did a couple swing dances and went to the side and just kind of looked across the dance floor.

And it was a feeling like this was the best life could get for a young kid. And then I texted my friends and they said that they were near the bar. So I took a few steps toward the bar. And then I heard the first shots. And I immediately knew what it was. I knew it was a gun, but it was like it was like you're in a gun range without any ear protection on with it reverberating through the room.

And I thought it may have been a dispute between two people. And then I turned to my left and there was a guy all in black and he had just shot someone in the front and then started shooting toward the bar where my friends were. And I didn't really feel any emotions. I just was in shock that this was happening and it wasn't, you could tell it wasn't a planned thing where he was coming in to kill someone. He was coming in to kill as many people as he could. Then he turned the gun toward the area I was in and started shooting. And I immediately dropped to the floor. And went toward the wall near the dance floor. It is out of vision of the front upper level and placed my back against that. And then I remember not feeling safe there because if he went down, you could see me.

So I jumped over the wall onto a few tables and went under the tables onto push some chairs out of the way, some bar stools. And then there was a pause. It felt like I was in there for 20 minutes.

And in actuality, I was probably in there for two minutes or so. And when there was this pause, someone said, run. And it was like immediately every single person in the bar who didn't know what to do based on those words started moving.

So I got up and started moving toward the direction everyone was running in. And you've been listening to Tyler Spady tell the story of what happened in a country in Western bar not far from his home in Thousand Oaks, California, and at the Borderline Bar and Grill. And we all saw the story in the news. And we've seen stories in the news like this before.

And when we come back, we're going to hear more from Tyler Spady and what happened on that night and beyond. This is Our American Stories. Folks, if you love the great American stories we tell and love America like we do, we're asking you to become a part of the Our American Stories family. If you agree that America is a good and great country, please make a donation. A monthly gift of $17.76 is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters. Go to OurAmericanStories.com now and go to the donate button and help us keep the great American stories coming. That's OurAmericanStories.com. Hello, iHeart listener.

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Your hearing isn't better, your TV is. A web of manipulation and terrifying abuse. If you'd have said to do anything I would have done it. With a powerful religious figure at its center. There was no safe place.

You don't say no to him. World of Secrets from the BBC World Service is back with a brand new season investigating allegations surrounding the preacher TB Joshua. The culture of secrecy needs to be broken.

Search for World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Judy was boring. Hello. Then Judy discovered Chumbacassino.com. It's my little escape. Now Judy's the life of the party. Oh baby mama's bringing home the bacon.

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Join today and play for free for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. We return to our American stories and Tyler Spady's story. We're talking about the mass shooting that occurred in Thousand Oaks California at the Borderline Bar and Grill where 13 people were killed in an instant practically and Tyler was there. There was a pause in gunfire so someone in the Borderline Bar and Grill yelled run. As Tyler recalled quote with those words everyone started moving and that included Tyler himself.

Here again is Tyler Spady. Everyone was running toward the kitchen. I didn't know whether he was behind me or not so I looked over my shoulder and when I turned around someone had put down the waiter door and I hit my face into that and fell under it and started crawling and everyone was shoving and pushing trying to get through the small door trampling over each other and people are basically swimming over over each other and it was a really claustrophobic moment of terror and you could hear the bullets whizzing over and hitting the walls as we were moving out and I got up and started running running through the kitchen in a haze. I got to the back of the bar where there's a loading dock and jumped off that and fell over onto the ground and then recovered from that and there's a group of about 40 of the people that were with me running to the hill nearby and I started running up that but I didn't feel safe in that moment so I told everyone on the hill to run to the neighborhood nearby and a girl came with me and I helped her over the fence and we went to every door in the neighborhood nearby and started knocking on the doors trying to get into houses. Eventually we were able to get inside and when you when I finally did get inside it was no longer the fight or flight where I was just trying to live I was able to feel safe so I just laid against the wall and started crying and received calls and called my my family to tell them that I was okay and it was it's interesting looking back I can feel how I felt that night I I don't dwell on it that that often or think about it because I don't think it's beneficial for me to do so and I've kind of moved past it but I can definitely feel those emotions and the family I'll be forever grateful for them letting me into that home because they were really kind to me and embraced me and really helped me. Shortly after this my friend John called me and said he was all right and they had jumped out the window and he had a similar situation of swimming over people and so I got in the car with his mom came and picked me up and I'd known this guy since middle school and I was just glad that that he was okay and we drove home and it was a quiet but really sad ride home where you're just trying to take in what you just witnessed. When I did finally get home I can remember the the best feeling that I've ever had in my life was hugging my mom and my sisters and falling to my knees upstairs and just letting every single emotion I had out and for it for about 10 minutes laying on the ground. After this we turned on the news and it further became real we were all in shock everyone in the room my neighbors of 15 years came came over to the house and embraced me and they were also regulars at this place.

When I got home my mom said that I had blood splattered on my on my face but I didn't have any cuts so I went and cried while I washed myself off and went back to the room to see everyone and I can't express the feelings that I had it was just other than disbelief and terror but a terror in a sense that you can't get a thought together there is nothing but the absence of feeling. One of my friends actually that night who had we had seen there was not allowed in because of some reasons and so him and his girlfriend had gone home and that's just another thing another moment of God I think interjecting into him into this and everything happens for a reason so those people were spared the trauma as well and potentially more than that. In the days following you slowly get information about friends and people you know friends and people you know who have been were killed in this event and me and my sister my sister was best friends with one of the people one of their sisters that had had passed and when we got that news we just both weeped in her room that was a terrible moment for for me and her but this family that formed out of that and was there before will always have a special place in my heart and are considered family to me I will never lose the connections that I've made that night from all these these individuals. A few a few days later after the event when we were doing different events with everyone and coming together to feel this as a group Donald Trump flew into the town and visited with a few of the families who had lost certain individuals and showed nothing but love and admiration for everyone involved.

That was a really incredible experience to meet a president and for him to do that for us. One of the things that I take away from this I mean there's a verse there's no greater love than to give your life for a friend and many individuals that night had done that that act and forever I'll be grateful to those people. After this all happened it was just months of recovering from the trauma and I tried to put myself in it as much as possible to sit on it now and let it go in my past later so I tried to get be around people around me that were also involved in it and because I was actually going to Montana so I set this date it was January 8th that I was going to Montana and this happened on on November 7th. The day I was going to leave to go to Montana I went to the to the bar to see see it one last time and say goodbye and leave it in the past. So I got on the plane and went to Montana and I lived in Montana where I was born in Montana where I was born and got to move past that moment and change my scenery. Then I came back for the one year anniversary and felt it again with the individuals that were with me. With all the people there I was able to heal more but also see the see the good in every moment. The the family that is borderline that had come together was was there to comfort everyone who was still hurting and to move past it as a maybe more than borderline a thousand oaks family of Ventura County family all these people that are connected in this close close knit community. And what a voice you've been listening to Tyler Spady tell the story of not merely a mass shooting episode that took the lives of 13 young people but changed the town he lived in but not just for the worse in many ways as he put it for the better evil can come knocking and it will but how a town copes with that how it comes together and rises above it it takes the measure of the town it can do the same thing you can do to a marriage someone loses a kid and that marriage isn't strong well it has two ways to go it gets stronger or it breaks apart and how we deal with tragedy and trauma we talk a lot about these things here on the show the story of Tyler Spady indeed the story of a town thousand oaks a beautiful story in the end a sad one too Tyler Spady's here on our American stories a web of manipulation and terrifying abuse if you'd have said to do anything I would have done it with a powerful religious figure at its center there was no safe place you don't say no to him World of Secrets from the BBC from the BBC World Service is back with a brand new season investigating allegations surrounding the preacher TB Joshua the culture of secrecy needs to be broken search for World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts what are you looking for in a new smart tv 4k picture quality high quality and immersive sound a sleek design all of those are givens but only the new Roku pro series has all of those and the Roku streaming experience an award-winning os get fast easy access to all your apps like iHeart where you can stream all your favorite music radio and podcasts all day and regular all-inclusive trips to Roku city the new Roku pro series a smart tv built by the streaming pros the following is a high-five moment from highfivecasino.com I won private put down your phone this is the army sort high five casino is a social casino it's on your phone goes wherever you go I win three spins cash prizes free daily rewards over 1200 games I won again platoon presents cell phone high five casino win it high five casino.com high five casino is a social casino no purchase necessary we're prohibited play responsibly conditions apply see website for details high five casino