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UF Law student injured in Las Vegas mass shooting

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Kristin Babik, a third-year law student at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, was seriously injured when Stephen Paddock opened fire on thousands of people at the Harvest 91 Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Babik was in Las Vegas visiting friends for the weekend and was enjoying the Jason Aldean performance when Paddock began shooting. She was hit in the back by a bullet which narrowly missed her spine. More 500 people were injured in what is now the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Another 58 people were killed.

“I couldn’t believe at the time that it was a gun, and I didn’t want to,” Babik told CBS News. “There was even some people who were yelling, ‘Don’t worry, don’t worry. It’s nothing.’ Second time came around, more people started to realize what it was. And after the third time, we knew.”

The 24-year-old remembers running toward the exit with her friend when she realized she had been shot. Babik was rushed in an ambulance to a nearby hospital. 

“I kept asking [my doctor], ‘Am I gonna be okay? All I want to do is graduate law school.’ And when she told me the bullet was in my spine or close to it, then my second question was, ‘Am I gonna be paralyzed? Am I gonna be able to walk again?’ And she told me when I woke up after they put the tube in my chest, ‘You’re gonna graduate and you’re gonna be able to run a marathon. You’re gonna run again.”

According to a statement from UF Law Dean Laura Ann Rosenbury, Babik suffered from a collapsed lung and broken ribs. There were no injuries to major organs or her spine. 

“We look forward to welcoming her back to Gainesville as soon as she recovers,” Rosenbury said. “This shooting is a tragedy for our entire nation.” 

Babik is a member of the UF Law Class of 2018. This past summer, she worked as an intern for the Clark County District Attorney’s Office. In the fall semester, she was a judicial extern for Judge James P. Nilon of Florida’s Eighth Judicial Circuit Court. Prior to that, Babik was a legal extern with the special victims counsel of the U.S. Army JAG Corps. She told CBS News that the shooting has renewed her sense of purpose to become a criminal prosecutor after she graduates in May.

Currently, Babik is recovering in a Las Vegas hospital and is in stable condition. She is expected to remain in the city with her mother as she recuperates.

“Kristin is on bed rest now, and she is thankful for our thoughts and prayers,” Rosenbury said.

A GoFundMe account has been created in her honor to help defray the medical costs and expenses. So far, nearly $15,000 has been raised. 

LAST UPDATED: Oct. 6, 2017

Don Macaulay

Don Macaulay

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