NORFOLK, Va. — The U.S. Army Cadet Command released a video Wednesday night of Old Dominion cadets who were in the classroom when a gunman opened fire, killing their instructor and injuring two of their peers.

The cadets said they were there for a regular Thursday morning meeting of their class: Military Science IV. Some arrived at Constant Hall early to prepare the presentations.

Just before the end of class, the head of the university’s ROTC program Lt. Col. Brandon Shah was wishing the cadets a good weekend when a man opened the door.

He asked the students, “is this ROTC or is this a seminar?” No one responded at first, said Samuel Reineberg, who was awarded a meritorious service medal for his actions that day.

Shah nodded his head, yes, said Cecelia Fooso, a cadet in the class. She told the man they were ROTC.

“I wasn’t really thinking about what that question meant,” said Louis Ancheta, a Purple Heart recipient for what he did next.

The man reached into his waist band and pulled out a gun. He shouted “Allah Ahkbar” before he began shooting in the direction of Shah, said Wesley Myers, a student who was awarded a meritorious service medal.

The students take deep breaths in the video as they recount the moments that followed in detail.

“Everybody dropped down to the ground,” said Cadet Samora Robinson. Students described immediately getting underneath their desks.

Ancheta pulled out his pocket knife, flipped it open and ran up towards the gunman.

As he ran, he said, Shah lunged at the gunman and began wrestling with him.

“If he didn’t lunge at him, I wouldn’t be here right now,” said Cadet Jah-Ire Urtarte, who was sitting in the front row.

Ancheta described as the gunman continued to fire as he faced stray bullets on his approach.

“It hit me,” he said, as one bullet pierced his chest. “It really didn’t feel like it hit me ... I thought I can keep going.”

Ancheta said Shah turned the man so that his back faced him. He began stabbing him in the back.

“As I’m stabbing him, other cadets jump in.”

Cadet Jeremy Rawlinson, awarded a meritorious service medal, said he saw Ancheta jump over a table and rush up.

“If he’s going up, I got to back him,” he said. He had a knife and began using it to stop the gunman, alongside Shah and several other cadets who all fell on the ground in a pile.

Myers saw the gunman’s hand on the firearm.

“He still had it pointing straight away from him,” he said. He reached for the firearm, pushed it towards the wall and squeezed his fingers into the gunman’s hand to wrestle the firearm out.

“I dropped the magazine and pulled the slide back. There was one round left in it,” he said. “The magazine was empty.”

Ancheta recalled folding his knife and putting it back into his pocket as he began to feel pain.

“Guys, can you get off of me? I think I’ve been shot.”

Several cadets laid Ancheta on his back and began performing first aid.

“It’s different when it’s not a mannequin. It’s your friend,” Myers said.

Samuel Reineberg’s attention turned to Shah, who tried to stand up but fell back into the wall.

“I caught him on the way down and I found a gunshot wound to the upper right thigh.”

Rawlinson handed over his belt so that it could be used as a tourniquet.

The students didn’t know what might come next – if they were the only ones attacked or if there were more people on their campus intending to cause harm.

Law enforcement arrived soon after, and cadets ushered them inside the classroom.

SWAT officers place a chest seal over Ancheta’s wound and place him in a stretcher for transportation to the hospital where he was ushered into surgery.

The other cadets were brought to the police station to be interviewed by police.

They weren’t aware their instructor had died until later in the day.

Reineberg said Shah was alive and talking when he transferred him over to paramedics. “The days that followed were really hard,” he said.

“There was this sense of could we have done more, and did we do everything right,” said one of the students Oshea Bego.

“He’s a hero. He lunged at him, wrestled with him and tried to save us,” said Ancheta.

“Col. Shah used the last of his strength to tackle that guy and he gave us just enough time we needed to to get on him,” said Rawlinson.

“He set the example. He closed the distance with the gunman, and we all followed in.”

“One of the last things he told my mom was that he would take care of me, said Bego. “He followed through on that.”

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