PITTSBURGH \u2014 Monday marks seven years since the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting.<\/p>\n
It remains the deadliest anti-semitic attack on u-s soil.<\/p>\n
First responders ran toward the terror, helping victims like Dan Leger.<\/p>\n
Body camera video shows them carrying Leger to safety.<\/p>\n
In a new documentary, we are hearing from some of the survivors and SWAT officers about the day their lives changed forever. <\/p>\n
dan leger – tree of life<\/p>\n
\u201cMy initial response was, \u2018This can\u2019t be gunfire. The furnace must be blowing up. It\u2019s a chilly day, end of the season. This is an old funky building,\u2019\u201d Leger said. <\/p>\n
In a new documentary, called \u201cThe Debrief – Confronting Hate, Tree of Life, Leger recalls the moments he heard the first round of gunshots at the synagogue and when a man came in firing as people worshipped. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think your mind works in a way that tries to tell you that when bad things are happening, they\u2019re not really happening,\u201d Leger said. <\/p>\n
That day, 11 people were killed, and several others were injured, including three officers and Leger. <\/p>\n
He lay in the stairwell, unsure if he was going to survive.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of a sudden, I see a pant leg and a boot on the stairway between my face and the wall. I said to myself, \u2018In a split second, this is either the shooter, and if he sees I\u2019m alive, he could finish me off\u2026or it\u2019s a helper.\u2019 I reached up and tried to touch the pant leg and he screamed out, \u2018This one\u2019s alive.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n
Two SWAT officers carried Leger out of the synagogue, and he was rushed to the hospital, where he spent a month.<\/p>\n
Down the hall from him, SWAT officer Tim Matson was also recovering after he was shot several times. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe said his goal in PT was to make it to my room\u2026so one day I was in my room and I heard a walker clicking, and coming around the bend was this frail old man\u2026and he walks in my room,” Matson said.<\/p>\n
In that hospital room, over the course of the next month, the two men became close friends and bonded over what\u2019s likely the most terrifying day of their lives. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a man who really literally put his life on the line for me. I love him. I love him like a son. Like a brother,\u201d Leger said.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019d like to watch the entire documentary, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n Download the FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>. | Watch WPXI NOW<\/a><\/p>\n TOP STORIES FROM CHANNEL 11 NEWS <\/p>\n \u00a92025 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n