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Yoga studio shooting survivor says he fought off the gunman with a vacuum and a broom

Posted at 5:00 PM, Nov 05, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-05 17:00:22-05

A man who survived the deadly shooting at a Tallahassee yoga studio may have saved his own life — and the lives of others — when he apparently confronted the attacker with a vacuum cleaner.

Bearing bloody lacerations on his forehead and eyebrow where gunman Scott Paul Beierle had hit him with his pistol, survivor Joshua Quick spoke to ABC’s Good Morning America on Sunday about the terrifying attack that killed two people.

Related: Victims and gunman in Tallahassee yoga studio shooting identified

As Beierle opened fire inside Hot Yoga Tallahassee on Friday evening, Quick said he grabbed a vacuum because it was the first large item at hand. Then, he waited for a moment to strike.

“The gun stopped firing,” Quick told the show. “I don’t know if it jammed or what. So I used that opportunity to hit him over the head with it.”

After the shooter hit Quick with the gun, Quick kept fighting back with a broom.

CNN is trying to reach Quick but has so far been unsuccessful.

Daniela Garcia Albalat told ABC that Quick’s actions may have been the reason she survived the shooting.

“Thanks to him, I was able to rush out the door,” she said. “I want to thank that guy from the bottom of my heart, because he saved my life.”

When it was all over, two women and the gunman were dead.

No link has been made between 40-year-old Beierle and the victims: 21-year-old Maura Binkley and 60-year-old Nancy Van Vessem. However, records show Beierle had a history of harassing and groping women, and he apparently complained about his lack of romantic success online.

Related: Gunman in Tallahassee yoga studio shooting was reported for harassing young women, police say