When 22-year-old Jacob Evans was packing his vehicle for a drive, he considered removing a trauma kit to make more space.
"I actually took it out of the car that morning to pack more stuff in there and I though to myself, since I've moved it now, now is when I'm going to need it," he said.
On Monday afternoon, he was driving through Wangaratta with his partner Jacklyn Black, when they stopped at one of their regular spots for some shopping.
It was by chance that they were at the scene of what police allege was a targeted attack on Independent MP Helen Haines.
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Police allege Tarawingee man Brendan Nugent , who has been charged with three offences, deliberately rammed a 4WD into Haines, who remains in a critical condition. One of her legs has been amputated and she has had surgery to try and save the other.
"We heard the crash and screeching tyres," he said.
"We then of course proceeded outside, saw the gravity of the situation.
"Initially we ran down and started helping and then it was very chaotic."
Evans said his partner was about to take control, assigning tasks to bystanders wanting to help. Black, 21, is a nursing and paramedicine student.
This allowed Evans to run back to his car for the trauma kit, which contained a torniquet he used to help manage injuries Haines suffered after being struck by a vehicle.
The pair, who live in Melbourne, didn't know who Haines was when they started helping.
"We're not from here, but we just saw that a person needed help and that was the priority," Black said.
"She was thanking us and calling us beautiful people. And considering the traumatic event that had just occurred, the fact that she was taking the time to say that just shows her character, in my opinion."
The pair said their focus was trying to keep everything under control, using what they had to have Haines "in the best possible position we could get her into before the paramedics arrived".
"We were very lucky that we didn't have to worry about the driver of the car because Ricky [local barber shop owner Ricky Jefferies] and Cody [Lepoidevin, who works in an outdoor store near Haines' office], they had already had it sorted and so many other bystanders as well," Black said.
"So we were very lucky that we could just focus primarily on Helen."
Lepoidevin said it's also how he met the pair.
"It was definitely a trauma bonding experience for the three of us. I knew everyone else, but yeah, us three, that's how we met," he said.
"They were in the shop one minute and then we were helping save a life the next."
The impact of what they witnessed is already starting to be felt by those who first responded.
"I rode the adrenaline high for the first day, then it came down and really hit a morbid note," he said.
"Obviously something like this shouldn't happen in any community, let alone Wangaratta.
"You don't hear about it, and unfortunately to see it is something else entirely."
