Aaron Boudot thought he was going to die.
It was July 26, and moments before, Boudot had shielded his wife from a stranger’s blade during a terrifying knife attack at a Michigan Walmart. So that stranger — whom authorities later identified as Bradford James Gille — began slashing him, slicing an artery in his right arm and stabbing him in the back, Boudot recalled.
“I lost three liters of blood in definitely less than 40 seconds,” Boudot, 41, said in his first interview about the mass stabbing, which injured 11 people. “I wasn’t going to last long. I said my goodbyes.”
Thanks to another stranger who quickly tied a tourniquet “in exactly the right place,” Boudot said, those goodbyes were premature.
Boudot recalled his near-death experience as NBC News obtained security video from inside the Traverse City Walmart that shows a man believed to be the attacker running through the store with a large green bag strapped to his back. He appears to jab at customers who, in some cases, can be seen tumbling to the ground.
The victims were ages 29 to 84. Nine were treated and released, the facility that treated them said in a statement this month. Two were treated and transferred. All are expected to survive.
Gille, 42, has pleaded not guilty to charges of terrorism and assault with intent to murder. He is being held at a psychiatric facility with bond set at $1 million, and he is scheduled to appear at a hearing Friday to determine whether he’ competent to stand trial.
Authorities have not publicly identified a possible motive, though they’ve said the victims don’t appear to have been predetermined.
Gille’s lawyer didn’t respond to a request for comment. His brother told NBC affiliate WPBN of Traverse City that he has long suffered from mental health issues that have gone unaddressed, even though his family has sought help.
“It’s been 28 years of trying to deal with this and it’s like we knew this was coming but not in this form,” the brother told WPBN.
Another victim told NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit that she believes the attack illustrates the failure of the mental health system.
“I just felt nothing but pity for this boy, because he’s never had a chance,” said the woman, who was stabbed in the upper back and the right lung.
Boudot, who works for a mortgage company, said his family had gone to the Walmart to get sidewalk chalk — he and his wife have four children — when a store employee said there was a fight. Seconds later, Boudot, who was in the produce area, recalled seeing a man with his hat pulled low appear to try and touch his wife’s neck.
He said he “brushed” the man away, blocking what he initially believed was a man trying to touch his wife.
“That was the only one that I blocked,” he recalled. “All the rest reached their target.”
Boudot said he was stabbed five times.
Despite the carnage, Boudot said his general lack of faith in humanity was renewed by the actions that followed from those around him: A stranger “wrapped their arms around all four of my kids because my wife’s in shock,” and an elderly man applied the tourniquet.
That lifesaving technique gave him the chance to make it to the hospital, he said.
“And that gave me a chance with a vascular surgeon,” Boudot said. “So it’s just unbelievable.”
