Ottawa shooting: Nurse Margaret Lerhe tried to save Nathan Cirillo

Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was unresponsive when Ottawa nurse Margaret Lerhe rushed to his aid moments after he was shot at the National War Memorial on Wednesday.

Cpl. Brandon Stevenson, who has standing guard with Cirillo, 'never wavered' as she came to offer help, she told CBC News.

'He said, 'Put pressure here. He's been shot twice.' I followed his command. It was just instinct,' she recalls.

Cirillo was not breathing, so the veteran nurse instructed others who had gathered around to start CPR, check his pulse and do compression, she says.

'There were four or five people around this fallen soldier working as a team. I'm uncomfortable with the term hero. It was everybody focused on him,' she says.

One woman, who wasn't trained in medicine, consoled Cirillo as he lay bleeding at the foot of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, she says.

'Saying, you know, 'Help will be on it's way,' she recalls. 'She was truly amazing. Everybody was working together trying to save this young man's life. I don't consider it heroism. I just think it's doing what you should do in the time of crisis.'

Thoughts of the shooter slipped away - Cirillo was the focus, she says.

'It never even entered my mind. I never even thought of myself in an unsafe situation until the police asked me, did I feel safe a few hours later,' she says. 'I think we just assumed they got the guy.'

'They're having a drill,' she thought

Lerhe was en route to a meeting on foot when she was startled by gun shots at the National War Memorial just before 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

'I was just crossing the crosswalk at Elgin and heard a shot, two shots, and it was very clear that it was a gun. And by now, I'm right there, at the memorial and I look up and I see the shooter but I thought it was a mock,' she recalls.

News of the man who hit two soldiers with his car in Quebec on Monday, killing one, was fresh in her mind, she says.

'I thought, 'It stands to reason, they're having a drill.' Then I thought, 'They're having a theatre piece,' because the shooter, with his long gun, it was so incongruous. It didn't look real at all,' she says. 'I saw him fire, he was in a firing position. I did not see the soldier fall.'

Even after she heard someone shout, 'Call 9-1-1,' she was still not convinced the violent scene playing out before her was real.

'I looked to see if there were people filming this theatre, this drama, and there wasn't,' she recalls. 'That's just when I ran forward to help.'

The shooter was already headed off in another direction, toward Parliament Hill where he would open fire in Centre Block before being shot dead.

'I'm not going to let this change who I am'

The public and central shooting scene, which draws in tourists, as well as passersby, became even more crowded as journalists arrived to report on the shooting. Lerhe was disturbed by the cameras pointed in Cirillo's direction.

'I felt the solider was very identifiable. He was wearing a kilt. He had white spats. All I could think was, 'His family will see photos of this,'' she recalls.

'That's one of the things that upsets me the most. There are people who respond and do the right thing and I don't understand taking photos of crisis like this.'

The shooting has raised questions and concerns about safety in the capital. Though Lerhe is grateful for victims' services, she refuses to let the horrible events of one day stop her from enjoying life.

Just one day after the shooting, she found herself walking past the National War Memorial on her way back to work from a meeting.

'I'm one of these rare people - I don't have fear,' she says. 'Snakes - I'm not crazy about snakes - but, I'm just not fearful. I'm not going to let this incident change who I am. I'm going to still continue to run at night. I'm going to still continue to walk home in the dark. I'm still going to do everything.'