hands, it happened. an explosion. the first thing that tells you something is wrong is a huge bang. yeah. coming from where. it was the main entrance, so it was off to my right and behind me. i remember turning around looking at it and just seeing people screaming and running. in those first seconds, catherine was unsure what was happening. she thought it sounded like broken glass or something falling but she immediately grasped that she and her girls were in danger. the chaos confused another mother not far from catherine on the main floor. faith was in the mall with her two children, her 9-year-old daughter and 21 month old son. the agricultural researcher was shopping for an anniversary present for her husband. she was in a flower shop when she first heard the noise.
phillip because she knew he was too far away to do anything and knew she would only panic him. back in north carolina all phillip could do was wait. it was 6:00 a.m. and news of the attack hadn t hit the u.s. yet. i m trying to imagine the feeling of getting that phone call and being so far away. helplessness is a pretty accurate word. you know there s nothing that you can do. i was so worried that the girls would just be screaming uncontr uncontr uncontrolably panicking and drawing attention. exactly what catherine was trying to prevent the girls from doing. i kept telling them to stay little and stay very quite and the lady with portia kept patting her and soothing her and gigi was curled up in a little ball. her breathing was so quite and so shallow. i kept rubbing her back and touching her because i was like maybe she s hurt and i don t
are in there and they re separated. that s a call you don t want to have to make. he had been at home recovering from surgery when he got an urgent text from catherine. what time did the first message come in? 12:52. what did she say. pray, shooting in westgate, hiding. that s a message. it just blew me away. i wrote her back really? and she said yes, i don t know where the boys are. she said find blaise. paul texted their oldest son, but he didn t answer. somebody put out a statement on facebook saying don t call anybody because people are getting shot when their phone rings. paul didn t call but stayed in touch with catherine through text messages, her lifeline to the outside world. i sent a text get me out of here. not like i thought he could but i was desperate. she didn t text her husband
realize it. cramped in her hiding spot, she was desperate to reach her boys after trying and trying, she finally got through again. i was able to send a text and just said are you okay? and he told me that they were okay, and that they were safe. you thought your boys had gotten out. i did. when he told me they were safe, i thought they had gotten out. but they hadn t. the walton boys were hiding in the back of the store. this cell phone video captured the battlefield the store became. the aisle were a bullet riddled maize. shoppers were stunned. some drawing fire. and now there were gunmen headed toward catherine s sons. faith was the other mother trapped in this nightmare. she had her two young children with her and was worried about controlling her toddler son.
he could hold on. she took a chance and played a game. she pretended glass and cements were insects to keep him distracted. there is an insect coming. he d watch it so fascinated. the gunmen continued to troll the mall floors looking for victims. catherine was worried they would finally see her and the girls. after all, she was seeing the gunmen. when they walked by you, were they shooting? no, they were walking very slow. they almost had a demeanor like they owned the place. like they knew they were in control. did they see you? they looked my direction. i knew as those men came out and came around behind us, that they could see us. those men had already killed dozens of shoppers. in this video captured by a security camera, a wounded person is prodded by a terrorist. other parts too graphic to