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A mom of two who survived the Texas mall shooting has emotionally recalled how a sales associate hid her and 12 others inside a store bathroom — but later lost her life in the bloodbath.
Raquel Lee said she decided to go shopping Saturday at the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen and parked outside the H&M store shortly before Mauricio Garcia, 33, drove up and opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle, killing eight people and wounding seven others, CBS News Texas reported.
“It sounded like a war zone,” Lee told the news outlet. “It was horrifying and it felt like you were in a dream. Like, just shock.”
Lee shared chilling video of the group sheltering inside the storage room, where they are seen 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 couldn’t dial out,” the visibly emotional woman said.
“I just remember thinking, ‘Oh God! He’s coming in here next.’ I was crouching down like ‘I hope we don’t get hit by a bullet,’” Lee told the outlet of the harrowing experience.
Raquel Lee recounts the terrifying moments she and 12 others hunkered down in a bathroom closet, where a heroic store worker hid them before she was killed in the mass shooting. CBS News
Lee captured chilling video of the group of people who sheltered inside a bathroom closet at the H&M store. Racquel Lee
The 13 people tried calling 911 from the closet but could not get through, Lee said. Racquel Lee“The store associate saved our lives,” she added.
The footage she captured shows the group finally being led out of the room with their hands up after police cleared the bloody scene.
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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Lee said one of the bodies she saw was that of the heroic store employee.
Two of the dead victims have been identified as 20-year-old security guard Christian LaCour and Aishwarya Thatikonda, an engineer from India who was living and working in Texas.
Gunman Mauricio Garcia killed eight and injured seven others in the rampage. via REUTERS
The body of mass shooter Mauricio Garcia after he was shot by a police officer. twitter@CollinRuggThe feds are 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 popular phrase among white supremacy groups, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press.
