Victor Cruz learns lesson from nightclub shooting

Victor Cruz spent part of his 25th birthday celebration on the floor of a Manhattan nightclub ducking from gunshots and trying to figure out how he would get out alive. What did he learn from the experience?

"That I'm going to barbecues and family get-togethers from now on," the Giants wide receiver said, noting that his clubbing days are over.

Cruz was at the Juliet Supper Club in Chelsea early Tuesday morning when gunfire erupted. One man was killed and two people were wounded, but Cruz and his party were on the other side of the building.

"Any time anything like that happens, it's frightening, no matter how many times you've heard a gunshot," said Cruz, who was raised in Paterson, N.J. "Growing up where I grew up, things like that were common, but not necessarily in the same area you're in. It's definitely scary."

Tom Coughlin said he spoke with Cruz about the incident "as a parent would speak to their son.

"I don't know what good happens at 2:30 or 3 in the morning, I've never been able to figure that one out," Coughlin said. The coach added that Cruz was not in any violation of team rules or curfews, though. "It was his night."

There were reports that teammates were with Cruz, although Hakeem Nicks and Antrel Rolle denied being there. Chris Canty, however, said he was with Cruz when the shots were fired.

"The first thing that goes through your mind is get out safely, get home safely," Canty said. "It's an unfortunate tragedy. I hate that something like that is still happening, something like that can take place. But it's the reality of the world we live in. My mom says this all the time: 'The life you save might be your own.' "

Nicks did offer some advice to Cruz.

"Ask Vic what I said. I said, 'Stay home. It ain't nothing out there like that,' " Nicks said. "He was celebrating his birthday. You never know. Anything can happen, just wrong place, wrong time."

Linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka had roughly the same message.

"I know he's not a knucklehead," Kiwanuka said of Cruz. "He's not the guy who's going to do anything intentional to get himself in trouble . . . If you are out there taking risks, you sort of have an expectation that something might happen. But when all you're doing is celebrating your birthday, you have to realize that this is New York City and you can't just go out and have fun."

Kiwanuka said when he heard there was a shooting at Juliet, he knew some of his teammates were likely there. But he said he did not have any flashbacks to 2008 when Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the leg at another Manhattan club.

"This is completely different," he said. "These are guys who were placed in a situation without them doing anything wrong."