The day the bouncer was shot.

The night had started out as any normal night in the club coming in and getting introduced to whoever happened to be doing their first night in the club. Inside the club things went on as normal with the clients partying the night away until suddely a loud bang was heard. This was not a noise I had heard in the club before so it stood out, thinking that something had happened on the main dance floor I walked towards the main dance floor to see if I could figure out what was going on. I had barely taken two steps towards the dance floor when all the bouncers from outside came rushing into the club slamming the doors closed and holding them closed.

At first I did not have a clue as to what was going on but I quickly noticed that one of the door men was injured with blood seeping out of two wounds, one on his chin and one on the right hand side of his neck. I quickly grabbed him and brought him out towards the back of the club to assess and treat him. It was at this point that I was made aware that a gun was involved and the cause of the loud bang. I then realised that the wounds were the entry and exit wounds from the bullet.

Quickly, with assistance from one of the other bouncers we got him outside the back of the club where there would be no interfearance from anyone. In the middle of assessing the injuries an unidentified person started walking towards us from the side of the building. Not recognising this individual we stopped what we were doing to issue him with instructions to stop where he was and identify himself. Thankfully he identified himself as a plain clothes Garda (Irish Police) and showed his identification. He was then issued instructions to vet any other people coming into the area and to ensure that the area was safe for us to continue treating the injured bouncer.

It was only when further Gardai, including armed Gardai arrived on the scene that a Dublin Fire Brigade Ambulance and Fire Truck were allowed to come into the area to take over the treatment of the patient. After giving them a handover of what I had noticed and done I stepped back and let them take over. They subsquently rushed him into hospital but luckily he was only suffering from a flesh wound with no major injuries or ill effects from the shot.

With him safe in the care of Dublin Fire Brigade Paramedics I went back inside to see if there was any other injuries or problems. It was only then that I noticed that there was a dent on the inside of the door which was a wooden door approximately 3 inchs thick. It took me a few minutes to realise that the dent was in the area that I had been standing when the bang was heard explaining why I heard the bang and noone else inside had heard it.

It is hard to know but if the door had not been so thick, or the gunman closer to the door, I may not have been here today typing in this blog entry for you to read. It serves to remind us all that life is fragile and you never know which day will be your last day or when you will be seriously injured.