Dunedin man Mustafa Boztas (22) was praying in the Al Noor Mosque when a man stormed the mosque and opened fire.
He was shot in the leg as he lay on the floor, pretending to be dead, before he managed to escape through a window.
It was while he was waiting outside for an ambulance that he started speaking to a police officer who was responding to the incident.
"On that day I had a police officer beside me, telling me it’s going to be all good and that the ambulance was coming," he said.
"I want to be the same person, you know, with a victim of a car crash or family violence or whatever — I want to be there for that victim."
The former University of Canterbury engineering student returned home to Dunedin after the attack, and is working through a one-year stand-down period before he can apply for police college.
He has already passed the police fitness test.
"At the moment, I have to wait for one year. The police would like me to just take one year to see more counselling.
"I really see where they’re coming from, and I’m not going to give up on the opportunity to heal up and be 100% ready."
Mr Boztas will tell his story as part of a documentary on TV1 tomorrow night.
