A mother of two who survived the recent Texas mall shooting has recounted the harrowing experience of being saved by a sales associate who later lost her life in the attack.
Raquel Lee had gone shopping at the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen on Saturday, parking outside the H&M store, when Mauricio Garcia, 33, drove up and opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle, killing eight people and injuring seven others.
Lee described the scene as sounding like a war zone and feeling like you were in a dream. Like, just shock. She shared a video of herself and 12 others sheltering in place inside a storage room, making frantic phone calls and sitting on the floor.
We were in a bathroom closet, and we were just in the closet trying not to be heard, crying, praying people were trying to call 911. We couldnt dial out, Lee said. I just remember thinking, Oh god! Hes coming in here next. I was crouching down like I hope we dont get hit by a bullet.
Lee praised the store associate who saved their lives but later lost her own. The footage Lee captured shows the group finally being led out of the room with their hands up after police cleared the bloody scene.
Lee said one of the bodies she saw was that of the heroic store employee. Two dead victims have been identified as 20-year-old security guard Christian LaCour and Aishwarya Thatikonda, an engineer from India living and working in Texas.
The FBI is investigating whether Garcia, who was shot dead by a police officer, held neo-Nazi views. During the rampage, Garcia wore a patch on his chest with the acronym RWDS, which stands for Right Wing Death Squad a famous phrase among white-supremacy groups, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
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