Samy Shelbaya said he feels lucky to be alive. He and his friend, 24-year-old Nick Franklyin, were coming back to their home in Midtown Manhattan early Saturday morning when they heard what they thought were fireworks.

“We hear one pop and we think, ‘Oh fireworks!’” Shelbaya said. “So me and Nick turn our bodies that way. Next thing we know, we hear the same pop and something flies.”

What You Need To Know

• Samy Shelbaya and Nick Franklyin were on their way home from a concert when shots rang out


• Both men were struck by the same bullet in their arms while sitting in the back of a cab


• Shelbaya, who starts medical school next week, sprang into action and made a tourniquet to wrap around his friend’s gunshot wound

The men quickly realized those fireworks were gun shots. Police say a man started shooting at a group of people on 37th St. and 8th Ave., but struck the two young men from the back seat of their cab.

“Nick grabs his arm and says, ‘I’m hit.’ So we’re just screaming and panicking,” Shelbaya said. “I look down at my arm and go, ‘Woah, I’m shot too.’”

Shelbaya was struck in his right arm and Franklyin in his left. The 22-year-old — who is starting medical school this week to become an orthopedic surgeon — says he wrapped a t-shirt around his friend’s bullet wound and made a makeshift tourniquet.

“It was instinctual,” said Shelbaya. “I just knew that there’s a bullet in his arm. Put pressure on it. That’s all I need to know, that’s all I need to tell the doctor.”

They were both treated by EMS and taken to Bellevue Hospital. Shelbaya got several stitches, while Franklyin is being treated for a shattered a bone in his arm. Shelbaya says his best friend is in good spirits.

“It also reassured me that I do want to be a doctor,” he said.

Shelbaya moved to the United States from Egypt in 2017. He said until this moment, he always felt safe in New York. Now, he says he’s on high alert.

“A gun is a gun. There are no limits to where you can bring a gun and a bullet can shoot you,” said Shelbaya. “So it’s made me question a lot of things about what’s truly safe and you can’t guarantee safety anymore.”

As for the man who shot him, Shelbaya said he has no ill feelings towards him and hopes he gets the help he needs.

“I forgive you,” said Shelbaya. “I don’t know what’s going on. Why you felt the need to shoot but I have no beef with him, no anger, no malice. Making sure he doesn’t do it again is my biggest concern, and I am so lucky this time.”

Police are still looking for the man in connection with the shooting. The NYPD said he has black hair and facial hair and was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, light colored pants and pink sneakers. Anyone with information is asked to call the crime stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.