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'I'm thankful I'm alive' | Drew Pescaro recounts UNCC shooting, one month later

Drew Pescaro remembers the moment when he knew he had been shot. He said now he feels like he has a second chance at life.

APEX, N.C. — "I just remember looking over my shoulder and seeing a kid running into the class," Drew Pescaro said. "I heard the first shot, and I thought, 'Oh my God, this is actually happening in my life right now." 

The moment a gunman opened fire inside a classroom in UNC Charlotte is still fresh in Pescaro's mind. 

"I just remember feeling it," he said. "I yelled out, 'I got shot!'" 

Pescaro said an ROTC student came to his aid, kneeling by his side, reassuring him that everything would be okay. 

"That's when it started running through my head, I might die from this," Pescaro said. 

Pescaro had been shot in the back -- just about an inch from his spine. 

The bullet just missed his stomach and liver. Two police officers rushed to help him, deciding there wasn't enough time to wait for an ambulance. 

"So, they just picked me up by my legs and arms, two cops, and put me back in the back of a cop car and took me to the closest hospital," Pescaro said. 

After multiple surgeries, Pescaro is healing -- both physically and mentally. 

"I will be going to therapy to clear my mind of all that, and to move on from it and not let it haunt me the rest of my life," he said. 

He's able to get around and do most things on his own again, and now Pescaro is looking forward to getting back to normal.

"I'm thankful I'm alive," Pescaro said to WRAL News. "It's a second chance at life." 

Pescaro says he plans to go back to UNCC in the fall so he can be there with his brother, who will be a freshman. 

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