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. it said, are you okay? and he told me they were okay. 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 nakima store. the cell phone video captured the battlefield store became. the aisles wear a bullet riddled maze, shoppers were stunned. some drawing fire, and now they were gunman headed toward katherine s sons. faith wambua was the other mother trapped in this nightmare. she had her two young children with her and was worried about controlling her toddler son. they heard gunfire all around them. i feel bad right now because i was lying on him, trying to
as the siege drag on. the outside world is beginning to get some idea of how terrible it was. good evening, loud explosions were heard tonight in the kenyan capital of nairobi. those still trapped inside the mall couldn t know they were part of a terrorist attack. faith wambua and her two kids remained absolutely still. it was their only chance for survival. but her mind raced. thinking about my husband. where is he? how could he get to know about this incident. i m wondering will my children get shot? will i get shot at my children have no mother after this? faith was determined to protect her children at any cost. i remember at some point i was covering the children, my son s head and my daughter s head and i said, any bill it would have to pass through me first before gets these children. faith and her children have been flat on the floor for a full three and a half hours. when suddenly, she heard
came all in the canyon capital and they were patrolling the building. searching for more victims. two mothers in our story both hiding with their children were hoping that their time was not running out. here s kate snow. for three and a half hours after armed gunmen stormed the west gate mall, two mothers had been trapped. katherine walton coached for cover with three young daughters under a temporary kiosk, gunman patrolling nearby and faith wambua, she and her two young children had played dead all that time. they moved once and were instantly shot at. a man approached them, faith held her position. but he wasn t a terrorist. it was a police officer. baby, baby, touching my daughter. baby, baby. are you okay? are you okay? and i said, wow. in my mind, i m thinking this must be a good person, finding out if we are okay. are we alive, are we okay. then he said it s safe. it s safe. it s the police. her nine-year-old daughter
petra was crying because i was laying on her. and it was allowed. it was very loud, very chaotic. what was happening around you? what are you hearing? everybody was scrambling. the shooting was coming from all directions. katherine new her boys have been headed towards the department store. amid all the noise and commotion, she managed to call them and yell out a quick warning. i said, don t come out of the store. they re shooting. go, run, hide. do not come out. katherine knew the situation was dangerous. extremely dangerous. but at least she had some cover. faith wambua and her kids were also trapped on the ground floor, but cowering out in the open. exposed to the gunman stalking their victims. i m telling the kids to lie down. but now there is this continuous loud sound. and that is when i knew there was shooting. and i thought, oh oh. wrong choice of hiding place. i remember my daughter at one
philip grabbed the first flight back to kenya. must at felt really good when he got off the plane? it was very good because, you know, as a mom, when dad is not around, you feel like you have to keep it together, and you ve got to be strong. and the kids were excited to see him? they had been asking. they were relieved to finally be able to touch him and hug him and have that extra security. these images show the devastation and destruction of the west gate mall, ravaged by a siege that dragged on for four days. terrorists with links to al-qaeda claimed responsibility, and the kenyan government said, at least 67 people died. for the survivors, it was difficult to make sense of it all, to move on. faith wambua went home, hugged her husband, and two days after the attack there was cause for celebration and time for reflection. for our children being alive. i m grateful to be reunited