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'I wound up breaking down after that': Black Friday shooting survivor recalls being shot while trying to help victim

Justin Miller says he was assisting another shooting victim when he was shot while trying to help her.

MACON, Ga. — It almost sounds like a scene out a movie: a man finds a person shot and tries to help, only to end up getting hurt himself.     

Justin Miller says he was assisting another shooting victim when he was shot while trying to help her.

Miller is one of six people who were shot in a downtown Macon shooting early on Black Friday. The attack left one person dead. 

Miller says he was just out with friends Friday morning at the Hummingbird Stage and Taproom when he walked out to see a crowd of people at the intersection of Cherry and Third streets. He says he walked over to see what was going on. 

"All I seen was Ms. Mann over there. She was kneeling down in a puddle of her own blood. Everybody was staring at her," Miller said. 

Miller says that woman was 22-year-old Jhacaya Mann. Miller says he immediately tried to find where she was shot and get her to lay down, but then, shots were fired. 

"A car stopped there at the corner of Third and Cherry, and then I just seen an orange flash," Miller said. 

That flash was gunshots. He says he fell to the ground, got back up, and noticed Mann had been shot again. 

"She wasn't breathing so the only thing I knew I could think of to do was to do CPR on her," Miller said. "Two other people walked up, and I just grabbed their hands and threw it over the bullet wound, the gunshot wounds."

While doing CPR, he noticed blood running off the right side of Mann's chest, where he knew she was not shot. It was actually his own blood. 

"Then I was picking up my hand and looked at it and was like, 'Oh, I've been shot, too,'" Miller said. 

At the time, he didn't know he was also shot in his leg until paramedics arrived, and he stood up from doing CPR on Mann. 

Miller says he later learned in the hospital that the woman he had worked to save had died.

"I wound up breaking down after that. Just to hear that, to know you've tried... and it does a lot to somebody," Miller said. 

Miller says the violence must stop. 

"A lot of these people are trying to go out and have a good time and then stuff like this happens. I mean, this is kind of ridiculous," Miller said. 

Miller says he's glad that Bibb County Sheriff's Office has made an arrest and hopes that all who are responsible for this attack are held accountable. 

"Now, you have Jhacaya, who was a mother of two, that don't have a mother anymore, and then you have their family members. That puts a toll on a family, and that's what a lot of people don't realize when they do stuff like this," Miller said. "You're not just affecting that one person. You're affecting multiple people."

As for his injuries, Miller says he's doing much better. He has staples in his leg and a splint on his right arm. 

The attack is still under investigation. Bibb County Sheriff's Office told 13WMAZ on Wednesday they are still interviewing people, and there may be more arrests. 

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