10TV cameras were allowed inside the Pine Kirk Care Center for first time since a gunman shot his way into the facility.
"He came in with the objective of killing his ex-girlfriend Marlina Medrano who was a nurse here," said Tom Rosser, owner of the care center.
On May 12, 2017, 43-year-old Thomas Hartless killed Kirkersville Police Chief Steven Eric DiSario, Medrano and one of her co-workers Cindy Krantz.
"The remainder of the staff chose to stay and protect residents by barricading themselves in everything from a resident room to our boiler rooms until first responders could come," Rosser explained.
In all, nine staff members hid inside the facility until SWAT team members safely rescued them.
"We had pushed ourselves up against the door," said Ariel Triona, one of the women inside at the time of the shooting. "We didn't want to make any sound because we didn't want it known that we were in there."
Triona says she hid with a co-worker and two patients while calling 911 for help.
"Me and my co-worker we’re holding hands, pressed up against the door trying to keep the two residents with us quiet," she explained. "You have so many things going through your mind. Am I going to die right now? Is this the end? You think about your entire life."
Triona says they didn't know who was injured until after first responders pushed through the door where the women and patients were hiding.
"We spent time talking, calling each other seeing who all had answered the phone and then it had hit us.... that two of them hadn't been answering," Triona shared.
Triona says, after learning her friend Marlina had been murdered, she knew exactly who the killer was.
"He said that he was going to kill himself if she would not be with him, but he also said that he had some things he had to take care of before he could do that," she explained.
Since then, Triona says there isn't a day that goes by that she doesn't think about the tragedy.
"The first 6 months were very hard getting through and dealing with the deaths, and what had happened," she said. "We went to grief counselors who would say 'this is your life now... You will always remember that day as the day your life changed".
Triona was diagnosed with PTSD and prescribed medication, however, she and the other employees who barricaded themselves inside the facility were not eligible for workers compensation benefits. Ohio is one of several states that does not cover mental illness, unless the employee suffers an accompanying injury.