Warning: graphic video

Witnesses described the horror of Saturday’s mass shooting at a Texas mall, including a frantic dad who lost three victims he had tried to save before finding a blood-soaked child who survived the violence by taking shelter underneath his slain mother.

The massacre left nine people dead, including the yet-to-be- identified gunman, and seven people injured.

Steven Spainhouer raced to the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, 25 miles north of Dallas, around 3:30 p.m. after his son, who worked at the mall’s H&M, called to say multiple shots had been fired in the terrifying onslaught.

“I never imagined in 100 years I would be thrust into the position of being the first first responder on the site to take care of people,” Spainhour told CBS News.

The Good Samaritan said that he arrived before any first responders and quickly began to administer first aid — all while other bystanders took videos of the bloodied victims laying on the ground.

“The first girl I walked up to was crouched down covering her head in the bushes, so I felt for a pulse, pulled her head to the side and she had no face,” Spainhouer told the network.

He then discovered a child who survived the massacre by hiding under his mother, who had died.

“When I rolled the mother over, he came out. I asked him if he was OK and he said, ‘My mom is hurt, my mom is hurt,'” Spainhouer recalled. “So rather than traumatize him anymore, I pulled him around the corner sat him down. He was covered from head to toe…like somebody poured blood on him.”

What we know about Texas mall shooter Mauricio Garcia

The gunman who killed eight people and injured seven others before being shot dead by police at a Texas outlet mall has been identified as Mauricio Garcia, 33.

A look into Garcia’s past revealed:

• He served in the Army in 2008 but was eventually “removed due to mental health concerns,” law enforcement sources told local ABC 30.
• Garcia had undergone several firearms proficiency courses in 2015 and 2018 as part of his security guard work
• Investigators began probing whether Garcia held neo-Nazi views after police found a patch on his chest with the acronym “RWDS,” which stands for “Right Wing Death Squad”
• Garcia also appeared to be casing his target for weeks. He shared more than two dozen photos of the outlets on extremist forums in the weeks leading up to his mass shooting, seemingly determining what would be the most packed time at the mall to unleash the greatest carnage, NBC said.
• The mass shooter alluded to his declining mental health, too. One of his final posts lamented that no psychologist would be able to fix him and his fears of what his family might say about him.

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When asked if he thought his life-saving efforts made any difference Spainhouer said he wasn’t sure, since three people he had tried to help died.

The images of the bloodied victims are something Spainhouer says will stay with him for the rest of his life.

“No one can see what they saw today and not be affected by it. It’s not a situation I would wish upon anybody, it’s just unfathomable to see carnage.”

Mother Kimberly Blakey said she was in the parking lot with her 14-year-old daughter when the shooting commenced, describing the gunfire as “nonstop.”

“The shooting happened over and over and over again,” she told CNN.

Blakey said she tried to flee the scene with her daughter, but accidentally drove towards the shooter, not away. After she frantically turned her car around, her vehicle was trapped in the long-line of cars also trying to flee.

The mother said her car was shot at twice, but that she somehow managed to get out of there and drove home despite her vehicle warning her that one of her tires was flat.

“I told my daughter to get down,” Blakey recalled of the moment her vehicle was shot. “She did, and I could hear her start praying.”

Eight people were killed and at least seven others were injured by a gunman dressed in black tactical gear who began firing in the mall’s parking lot. The gunman was shot dead by a police officer at the scene.

An officer who was at the mall responding to an unrelated call heard the shots, ran toward the sound, and “engaged and neutralized the threat,” Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey told reporters at a press briefing Saturday.

Six victims of the shooter were found dead at the scene, while nine others were transported to area hospitals for treatment, two of which later died from their wounds, Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said. 

Police did not give the ages of the victims but witnesses said children were among the casualties — and that they saw what looked like a cop or mall guard wounded on the ground. 

Chilling footage of the moment the gunman causally got out of his car and opened fire on shoppers was caught on dashcam video.

The man, who is in his 30s, lived with his parents in Dallas, according to WFAA-TV. Police believe he acted alone.