Minn. Man Who Risked Life During Florida Airport Shooting Returns Home, Reflects

ELK RIVER, Minn. (WCCO) -- The Minnesota man who risked his own life to help others during the Fort Lauderdale airport shooting is back home, reflecting on the impact it's had.

"I was just there at the right time doing the right thing to help people that were having trouble getting out of harm's way I guess," Mark Lea said.

Mark and Kari Lea returned home to Elk River after going on their scheduled cruise. They shared details of the traumatic ordeal and why Mark will travel to visit one of the survivors tomorrow.

"I've replayed that 45 seconds, the next 10 minutes afterwards so many times that I've lost track," Mark Lea said.

What unfolded inside baggage claim at the airport in Fort Lauderdale is etched in his mind.

"I was watching him continue to walk down the aisle of baggage claim just randomly shooting here and there to anyone that was in his path from there," Mark Lea said.

After the first shots rang out, Mark's wife Kari ran outside with others. Mark helped many get to safety, then went back in. He secured the shooter's weapon while officers took him into custody.

Kari was terrified all the while.

"I didn't know if it was safe to go in, I didn't know if I was going to find him dead or alive. I'm super proud of him. For the things he did without even thinking about it," Kari Lea said.

Mark stayed with victim Kari Oehme, and kept pressure on her gunshot wound to the shoulder. Her husband lay dead a few feet away.

"She kept saying, 'Don't leave me, don't leave me.' I just kept talking to her because I knew that was comforting to her knowing that she was there, she was not alone," Mark Lea said.

The couple is thankful to be home with family but say they are armed with a new reality, and continue to try to tune out the what ifs.

"I play it over and over in my head as to what I could've done different, should've done different, anything else. Everyone kind of says, 'No, you can't change it, you have to work through it,'" Mark Lea said.

"This guy just ruined so many people's lives and affected so many people by what he did," Kari Lea said.

Mark will head to Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Tuesday so he can attend the funeral for Michael Oehme. He's Kari Oehme's husband. The Oehmes have a Minnesota connection as well -- a family cabin in Brainerd.