GREENVILLE, Del. (AP) — A Delaware man wounded in an attack at a New Year's Eve celebration in Istanbul says he survived by playing dead. 
 
 William Jacob Raak told NBC News he stayed silent and motionless during the attack at a popular nightclub, even after being struck. 
 
 "When he shot me I didn't move — I just let him shoot me," he told NBC (http://nbcnews.to/2i2wzem ). "I was shot when I was already on the ground. He was shooting people that he had already shot." 
 
 Raak, 35, is a small-business owner from Greenville. The State Department said Monday that Raak was the only U.S. citizen injured in the attack in Turkey's largest city. 
 
 Raak told NBC he was with a group of nine people, seven of whom were shot. Raak said he was struck in the hip and the bullet traveled to his knee. 
 
 "I was probably the luckiest person in the whole thing," he said. "I do find myself very fortunate." 
 
 Istanbul Gov. Vasip Sahin has said the attacker, armed with a long-barreled weapon, killed a policeman and a civilian outside the Reina club before entering and firing at people partying inside. At least 39 people, mostly foreigners, were killed. Dozens were injured. 
 
 The Islamic State group on Monday claimed responsibility for the shooting. Turkish police, meanwhile, detained eight people in connection to the attack but were still hunting for the gunman, who disappeared amid the chaos. 
 
 Raak's mother, Grace Raak, told The Associated Press on Monday her son was visiting Istanbul to celebrate his birthday, which was Wednesday. 
 
 "We are praying for those that were injured, for their speedy recovery, and we're praying for the family and friends of those who lost loved ones," Grace Raak said. 
 
 She said it was her understanding that her son was to arrive home Tuesday night. 
 
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 Associated Press journalist Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia contributed to this report. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 / Updated By Richard Engel 
 
 ISTANBUL — An American shot during the Istanbul nightclub rampage told NBC News he survived the ordeal by playing dead, remaining silent and motionless even after the gunman shot him. 
 
 Jake Raak was one of about 60 people injured during a rampage in and around the Reina nightclub early New Year's Day. Thirty-nine people were killed — most of them foreigners. 
 
 Authorities were engaged in an international manhunt Monday for the suspect, who fled the scene after the shooting. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş told reporters Monday that investigators had recovered his fingerprints and expected to be able to identify him soon. 
 
 Kurtulmuş said eight people were already in custody as authorities pursued others connected to the gunman. 
 
 Raak, 35, of Greenville, Delaware, recalled that as the gunman moved through the club spraying bullets, he targeted people who were lying on the floor. 
 
 "When he shot me, I didn't move — I just let him shoot me," he said. "I was shot when I was already on the ground. He was shooting people that he had already shot." 
 
 ISIS claimed responsibility for the shooting Monday, identifying the attacker as "a heroic soldier of the caliphate." It said the attack had been carried out "in response to a call" from its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, although it didn't say whether it directed or merely inspired the perpetrator. 
 
 The gunman fired 120 rounds during his rampage in and around the nightclub about 1:30 a.m. Sunday (5:30 p.m. ET Saturday), police told NBC News. The incident lasted less than 10 minutes. 
 
 Raak was shot in the hip, and the bullet traveled to his knee. He added that he didn't move or make a sound even after he was hit, fearful that the gunman might realize he was alive. 
 
 "You just have to stay as calm as you can," he said. "I took a bullet." 
 
 Raak was with a group of nine people, he said, seven of whom were shot. 
 
 Raak said he came within inches of the shooter, who walked along a bench that he was lying underneath. 
 
 "I saw him coming, and he shot us all," he said. "Somebody said there were shots fired, and I initially did not believe it until I saw the gunman and he started shooting up the whole place." 
 
 Raak said he felt utterly helpless as the gunman fired his rounds. 
 
 The main suspect in the Istanbul nightclub attack in a video released by Turkish police and Dogan News Agency. Dogan News Agency via AFP - Getty Images 
 
 "As you'd imagine, you're looking at a guy with a gun, and you do not have a gun," he said. "You're thinking of ways you can take him down in some way, but there's not much you can really do — it's a terrorist." 
 
 Still, he said, "I was probably the luckiest person in the whole thing." 
 
 Police in Istanbul released what they said was an image of the suspect taken from security video. 
 
 Twenty-eight of the dead were foreigners, Turkish Health Ministry officials said. Canadian, Iraqi, Saudi, Indian, Lebanese, Tunisian, Kuwaiti and Syrian citizens are among the dead. ||||| Play Facebook 
 
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 It took less than a minute for a gunman to shoot his way into the Reina nightclub in Istanbul on New Year's Day. 
 
 Security video from outside the nightclub surfaced on social media Sunday, showing the harrowing moments leading up to the New Year's terrorist attack, which killed 39 people and wounded more than 60 others — including an American, a U.S. State Department official told NBC News. 
 
 The gunman remains at large, according to Turkish police. 
 
 In the video, the nightclub's bouncer and a few patrons can been seen lingering near the front door as cars glide down the street. Then, suddenly, bullets begin hailing down, ricocheting off the street and a passing car. 
 
 Saldırganın gece kulübüne ateş ederek giriş anı pic.twitter.com/JXtpwZVwb4 — Haberdar (@Haberdar) January 1, 2017 
 
 One appears to strike a bystander. Chaos ensues as the gunman enters the screen firing multiple rounds from what appears to be an automatic-style weapon. 
 
 Related: Scenes of Chaos and Mourning After Istanbul Nightclub Attack 
 
 A second video — shot from above the nightclub's entrance — shows men crouching in fear and scrambling inside the club as the gunman approaches the front door. He callously shoots two people before disappearing from the screen. 
 
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 A third grainy video from inside the club captures the aftermath of the massacre, as a man wearing what appears to be an improvised face mask surveys the damage before running off camera. 
 
 Twenty eight of the people killed in the attack were foreigners, according to officials with the Turkish Health Ministry, who listed their nationalities as Canadian, Iraqi, Saudi, Indian, Lebanese, Tunisian, Kuwaiti and Syrian. 
 
 An Arab Israeli woman was also killed, Israel's Foreign Ministry said, and her friends were wounded. 
 
 Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag said four of the 65 wounded were still in critical condition. 
 
 Related: Istanbul Nightclub Attack: Manhunt Launched for Terrorist Who Killed 39 
 
 Among the injured was one American citizen — Jake Raak, 35, of Greenville, Delaware, who was in Istanbul to celebrate New Year’s, his brother, Mike Raak, told NBC News. 
 
 Mike learned the news after receiving a call from his brother, who was hospitalized. 
 
 “I was in a club and I got shot,” Mike recalled Jake saying. 
 
 The injuries weren’t serious — the bullet struck Jake’s hip and traveled to his knee — and doctors expected him to be discharged and on his way home to the United States within the next day, Mike said. 
 
 Still, Mike added, his brother sounded horrified. 
 
 “He was completely shaken,” he said.
– Jake Raak calls himself "probably the luckiest person in the whole thing"—the "whole thing" being the New Year's Day massacre at a Turkish nightclub. The Greenville, Delaware, resident tells NBC News the shooter walked within inches of the bench he was under, and that when he was shot in the hip, he made no sound or movement so as not to alert the gunman he was still alive. It may have been a life-saving choice: Reuters reports the gunman, who ultimately killed 39, specifically went after the wounded at the Reina club in Istanbul. Raak says that among his group of nine, all but two were shot. The State Department has confirmed he was the only American injured. The bullet that struck him ended up in his knee. His mother tells the AP that her 35-year-old son had traveled to Istanbul to celebrate his birthday, which was last Wednesday. ISIS on Monday claimed responsibility for the massacre. While eight people have been detained, the gunman remains at large.