Right away, Hernandez saw just how badly Giffords was hurt.

"Immediately I noticed that in the position that she was in, she was in danger of choking on her own blood just because of the way she was laying down on the floor," Hernandez said. "The first thing I did was I picked her up and sat her upright so that she could breathe more easily. She was up against my chest.

"I then started with my bare hands trying to put pressure on her wound to prevent the blood flow from getting worse. Until we were able to get something other than my bare hand we were just applying pressure."

He asked for something clean to help sop up the blood, and butchers brought him smocks.