San Francisco Store Owner Shot 7 Times Including Through the Cheek After Thinking It Was a ‘Stupid TikTok Prank’

A San Francisco man is now on the road to recovery after he was shot seven times outside of his business last month.

Martin Olive, 47, is “grateful to still be here,” he told ABC affiliate KABC, just weeks after a stranger repeatedly shot him outside of his Vapor Room smoke shop on Jan. 27.

The San Francisco Police Department first responded to a call of a shooting in the area of Mission and 9th Streets around 4:56 p.m. local time on Jan. 27, before discovering a man with “apparent gunshot wounds being treated by paramedics.” The victim was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, per the SFPD, while the alleged shooter has since been identified as 34-year-old Cheasarack Chong — who died following what authorities are calling an “officer-involved shooting incident,” per a news release and a virtual town hall.

“I want to do some good work, and I want to keep helping people,” Olive told KABC. “To keep a perspective. That this life is valuable, and I have been grateful enough to be given another chance and to find the joy and to find ways to be content with things, and proud of my life and happy for my life.”

Olive told the outlet, and The San Francisco Standard, that his injuries include a bullet wound above his collar, two in his back, a split ear, fractured jaw, fractured shoulder, several cheek stitches, nerve damage, a lung injury and about five cracked ribs.

Surveillance footage from the scene of the shooting, cited by multiple outlets including The Standard, shows the bicyclist — later identified as Chong — parking his bike and walking toward Olive before firing at him from close range. After the shooter fired multiple rounds, Olive fell to the ground and covered his head before he fired at his head. The suspect then entered a nearby building.

In what he thought was “the beginning of a stupid TikTok prank” involving a water gun, Olive remembered trying to run after the first gunshot but not going anywhere. “It felt like I got a ball of hot metal shoved into my cheek,” he told The Standard.

“It just was so hot, and I just wanted to get away from the pain. I think, metaphysically, my soul was running away from my body. I was in another world.”

Passersby attempted to stop his bleeding as he remained still on the ground, Olive told the outlet, adding that his arms spasmed and his clothes were drenched in blood. As he told KABC, he recalls a nurse using her shirt for compressing and being “the first angel to come and bring some sort of normalcy and bring me back out of this out of body.”

“I kept thinking to myself, ‘I can’t believe I’m gonna die on Ninth Street,’ like, holy s—, I’m dying on Ninth Street,” he told the Standard.

While there were moments where Olive was “fading out” on his journey to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, he credits EMTs with saving his life, per KABC.

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As for Chong, the suspect “failed to comply” with SFPD’s attempts to apprehend him and “refused to exit” the building. Body camera footage later shared by police showed the moment the suspect reportedly fired at officers.

“Officers made entry and located the suspect who was suffering from life-threatening injuries,” the SFPD said in a news release. “Officers and paramedics rendered aid on scene. Despite the lifesaving efforts of first responders, the suspect was pronounced deceased.”

Per CBS News, investigators reportedly found three handguns, one loaded rifle, multiple magazines, five bullet casings, and a bulletproof vest inside Chong’s apartment. The Standard notes that Chong previously faced charges, including attempted murder, before he was acquitted when a jury found him not guilty of attempted murder and was hung on an assault charge after he allegedly stabbed a man in what the public defender’s office argued was an act of self defense.

Olive’s goal now is to reopen his store “bigger, better, stronger and more awesome, with the help of the community,” he told the Standard.

“I think I’m very lucky within unlucky circumstances,” Olive told the outlet. “I’m not a tough guy. I just want to be a squishy, soft dude… I’m just a guy that was standing there and got shot.”

The community has his back, too. According to a GoFundMe page launched by Olive’s friend Jason Tyler Grace, supporters have raised nearly $120,000 in his recovery journey as of Friday, Feb. 7. “Martin is not just a beloved friend—he’s an irreplaceable part of the Bay Area community,” the note read.

“This isn’t Martin’s first fight to survive — he survived a brain aneurysm in the past,” Grace added. “Clearly the world wants him here, and so do we. If you can donate anything, we’re raising funds to support Martin’s recovery and the hurdles he’ll face ahead, from medical bills to rebuilding his life.”

Olive has since shared updates to Instagram, telling friends in a caption that after he spent six nights in the hospital, he’s expected to make a “mostly full recovery.”

“I wanna thank you all, seriously, for the love and support and smiles you’ve all shared with me. It’s kept me going. Thank you,” he wrote.

“… Also, I’m doing okay and beyond blessed so feel free to donate to charity that helps with gun violence or helps nurses who are terribly underpaid for their hard work.”