Matt Wennerstrom said he immediately recognized the sound of gunfire. He smashed a window with a barstool to rescue people in the bar as the shooting was taking place.
"We probably pushed 30 or 35 people through that window," Wennerstrom said.
PHOTOS: Mass shooting at nightclub in Thousand Oaks, California
Blood was visible on the sleeve of his shirt.
With blood still on the sleeve of his shirt, Matt Wennerstrom describes the mass shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill. He says he threw a chair through a window allowing others to escape. @ABC7 pic.twitter.com/AnvYlSulhW
— Jory Rand (@ABC7Jory) November 8, 2018
"All I did was grab as many people as I could and pull them underneath the table until I heard a break in the shots, and then we got people out of there, as much as we could," he said.
One woman who went through the window was in tears describing the event.
One woman in tears said her friends got bar stools to smash the windows so they could escape as gunfire erupted in the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks https://t.co/3gvXBtsEIT pic.twitter.com/vx25QXdUDa
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) November 8, 2018
Wennerstrom, who said he visits Borderline Bar & Grill every week, said all he wanted to do was get his friends to safety.
The shooting happened around 11:20 p.m. Wednesday at Borderline Bar & Grill. Authorities said hundreds of people were inside the bar when the gunfire rang out.
The shooting left 12 people dead, including a Ventura County sheriff's sergeant, authorities said.
Authorities said the suspect was killed inside the venue.
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