The sole survivor of a deadly lightning strike across from the White House told WJLA she has no idea how she made it.
On Aug. 4, Amber Escudero-Kontostathis and three others sought shelter from a storm under a tree in Lafayette Square park. Lightning bolts struck all of them.
Civilians, uniformed Secret Service agents and U.S. Park Police officers who witnessed the strike, ran to help. They performed CPR on the victims until DC EMTs arrived.
Donna Mueller, 75, and James Mueller, 76, from Wisconsin, and Brooks Lambertson, 29, died of their injuries.
“I always thought like a tree would, if it were hit by lightning, would catch on fire and you’d run from the fire," Escudero-Kontostathis told WJLA reporters.Â
She thinks maybe her platform shoes with rubber soles helped her live to see another day.
She recently met two nurses from Texas who ran to help resuscitate her. Still, she asks why she was the only survivor.
"I died and came back, I think," Escudero-Kontostathis said. "You don't know when your last day would be."
