INDIANAPOLIS -- A mother of three is the lucky one after she was shot by her ex-boyfriend, she says.
After she was shot in April, Sarah McKinney now relies on a walker to get around.
McKinney battles constant pain and a constant fear that her worst nightmare isn't over yet.
"He came in the kitchen and he didn't say anything," McKinney said. "He just raised the gun. I tried to run and he just started firing."
She was hit multiple times while inside a Courtyard Mariott Hotel off Southport Crossings Drive.
Falling to the ground, McKinney says she looked up and locked eyes with the shooter -- the father of her three children.
"I asked him I just said, 'Please babe no,' and then he walked out," she said.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department says Paul Thompson went on to knock on Darryl Nichols' door, near Carson Drive, shooting him too.
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Nichols survived the shooting. McKinney says they were mutual friends.
"All I can say is it was God," she said. "Like, that's why I'm here."
Thompson was arrested in Illinois a short time later. But McKinney says her pain could have been prevented.
"They were supposed to arrest him the day before he shot me," McKinney said.
Nearly a month later, she is still working to recover both mentally and physically.
Supporters donning purple for domestic violence awareness donated money to help McKinney support her family and pay for medical bills.
While the young mom uses her second chance to urge other young women to get out while they still can.
"Even if there are still good times and he doesn't beat you ever single day and he doesn't verbally hurt you every single day it doesn't matter, they're still capable of doing something like this," she said.
Despite it all -- the pain and the fear -- she says she still feels blessed.
"I still have my life and my freedom and I get to watch our kids grow," McKinney said. "Like, I'm the lucky one. He's going to be in jail, he's not going to have any of that."
Thompson is in jail with a pre-trial hearing next month..
He's been charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a firearm by a dangerous felon.
