SF smoke shop owner grateful for another chance at life after being shot 7 times by stranger
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- It's been 10 days since Martin Olive's life changed forever. He went outside of his smoke shop, Vapor Room in San Francisco, when a stranger came out of nowhere and shot him.
"I thought it was like a TikTok prank or a joke, like a water gun. In my head, the logic didn't register. It didn't make any sense about what was happening. I put my hands up when I saw that it was a real thing happening and I kind of dodged, and he was aiming for my head and then two shots - bang, bang - and those are the ones that hit my cheeks," said Martin Olive, Vapor Room owner. "I just felt this searing pain that was the worse pain that I have ever felt in my life. I remember just feeling like a hot metal, something in my face."
Martin says he turned around and tried to run. He fell and remembers the shooter standing over him preparing to shoot him again.
"That is when he shot me a few more times. I have a bullet wound here above my collar and then the two in my back which caused all sorts of other injuries - I have a fractured jaw, fractured shoulder, and I think that while hyperventilating, I pieced my lungs and cracked like five ribs," said Olive.
Luz Pena: "What was going through you mind when you were laying there?"
Martin Olive: "I remember feeling like this sensation of like, pulling out of me - but not being able to escape it. So, I was very tendered to my pain, and it just would not stop. Then it got worse as more bullets hit me. I remember confusion. Fear. I thought I was going to die on 9th street."
As he yelled for help and agonized on the sidewalk, a nurse that was in the area ran to help him.
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"She took off her shirt and was doing compresses and telling me that I was going to be okay. I remember my hands spasming," said Olive. "She was the first angel to come and bring some sort of normalcy and bring me back out of this out of body, spiritual experience I was having where I was no longer tendered to my physical form."
After a police standoff, officers killed the man who shot Martin and later found multiple firearms inside his San Francisco apartment. It was the same building where Martin has his shop.
"I kept screaming and thinking, why me? I didn't do anything. Why me? Who was that? What did I do? What did I do? I didn't do anything," said Olive.
Paramedics rushed Martin to Zuckerberg San Francisco General hospital and Trauma Center.
"I remember telling the EMT, 'Don't let me die, man,' and he was like, 'You are not going to die, man' and then I got to the hospital and I said, 'Please don't let me die,' and they said, 'You are not going to die,"' described Olive. "They saved my life multiple times. There were many moments when I was fading out, closing me eyes."
Martin Olive now wants to find the nurse who helped him and go back to the hospital to thank the medical team. We FaceTimed with Dr. Chris Colwell, chief of Emergency Medicine at SF General, to help him with one of those wishes.
"They all deserve bonuses and they really work hard for what they are doing, and every single one is an angel," said Olive.
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Dr. Colwell: "That is so fantastic to hear. We don't often get to hear back from experiences like you, and I can tell you that is why we do this."
As he embarks on a long recovery, his community is uplifting him everyday with cards and messages of encouragement.
"Thankfully, a very strong community. Friends and family that are all rooting for me and helping me out. My friend and live-in nurse Tiffany here, is taking good care of me for the time being treating my wounds - I have some pretty deep bullet wounds," said Olive.
Despite the pain, Martin is grateful for another chance at life.
"I'm grateful to still be here and I want to do some good work, and I want to keep helping people," said Olive. "To keep a perspective. That this life is valuable, and I have been grateful enough to be given another chance and to find the joy and to find ways to be content with things, and proud of my life and happy for my life."
Martin Olive is unable to go back to the smoke shop. This Saturday, his team is having a party for the shop's temporary closure while he focuses on his mental and physical recovery.
Friends set up a GoFundMe account to help Martin Olive pay medical bills and other expenses.
