Aurora Colorado shooting victims continue to recover

AURORA, Colo. -- At the Medical Center of Aurora, patients continue recover from injuries sustained in Friday night’s shooting.

Of the 18 patients originally treated at the hospital, 7 remain.  Four are in intensive care, and two of those are in critical but stable condition.  The recovering victims are ages 16 to 31, according to the Medical Center of Aurora.

Brandon Axelrod is now remembering what happened.  The thirty-year-old man attended the late show after missing the earlier time, he said.  He was with his wife, 24-year-old Denise Tryanom and his friend, 32-year-old Josh Nowlan.  Denise and Brandon have been married for less than two weeks, married July 7, Brandon said.

“We were lucky, we stayed down,” Axelrod said.  

Axelrod sustained injuries when plastic from the chair hit him in his side and knee.  Traynom was hit in the back with what may have been the arm of a chair.  Nowlan was shot in his arm and his leg, and has undergone surgery.  

Getting emotional, Axelrod says he was happy his friend was next to him.  “Josh helped me, protect my wife.  And he got shot,” he said.

The three huddled between the seats of the theater, and did not run with the crowd of panicked people, Axelrod said.  

“The three of us together, we piled on each other and we kept each other safe.  and luck or faith, or whatever you want to call it, kept us alive.  and you know.  Josh, while we were hugging each other in the aisle, got hit in the arm.  And at some point, because he’s so tall and lanky, he got hit in the leg as well,” he said.

Josh continues to recover in the hospital.

“The patients that we have here in the hospital are all doing fairly well, “ said Dr. Bob Snyder, Trauma Surgeon for Medical Center of Aurora.  

Snyder says the patients still being treated had a quiet night, but that all are exhausted.

“You try to distance yourself professionally,” he said.

The victims have injuries at different areas of their bodies.  Medical staff have seen injuries to the head, chest, belly, arms and legs.  While medical staff says gunshot wounds are not unusual, they do not typically deal with such a heavy influx of patients all at once.

“Today is the day that there is going to be some realization that there are going to be some serious, long-term issues that people are going to have to deal with,” Snyder said.

Staff is in place to help with mental health of patients and families.