VIDEO: It took just three minutes for Ventura County firefighters Martin Gonzalez and Damon Zielinski to respond to the late night call of shots fired at the Borderline Bar & Grill, back in November. But it would be days before either would truly sleep again after what would be some of their most emotional days on the job.
'Before we even left the station, our dispatcher goes, 'Hey, we're getting reports of numerous shots fired and you might have two victims,'' said Gonzalez, a fire captain who's been in the fire service for 31 years, 16 of those years with Ventura County.
They arrived to a still active scene so they staged three blocks away.
'Probably 13, 14 shots -- and loud,' Gonzalez recalled. 'Seemed like they were right outside the engine.'
'Almost like two different people were exchanging gunfire,' Zielinski added.
Thinking they might be in the middle of the shooting, Gonzalez directed the rig to move under a freeway overpass.