Daniel Hernandez, a junior at the University of Arizona, was on his fifth day of his new job as intern to U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords when life as he knew it changed.
He was working the “Congress on Your Corner” Event checking in people when he heard shots and suddenly saw bodies everywhere. That did not stop him, he not only ran toward where the shots were being fired he tried to help as many people as possible including the gravely injured Giffords.
He used his hand to apply pressure to the Congresswoman’s gunshot wound only after checking pulses on people lying on the ground nearby. He pulled the wounded Giffords to his lap offering words of encouragement and strength and rode with her to the hospital holding her hand the entire time.
Hernandez did not realize all his clothes were soaked in blood and only realized it when the FBI asked for his clothes as evidence. Arizona State Rep. Matt Heinz credits Hernandez quick thinking as probably having saved Giffords life.
20 year-old Hernandez is thrilled his boss is hanging in there but not surprised: “She’s definitely a fighter, whether for her own life, or standing up for people in southern Arizona,” he told reporters.
