ALLEN, Texas — A Tyler family went to the Dallas area to celebrate an early Mother's Day at the Allen Outlet Mall. And what started as a fun shopping trip ended in chaos.
The shooting sent families like Toshya Isoms'' and workers running for their lives.
"My daughter grabs one of my grandkids, I grabbed one of my grandkids, my mother's beside me, we started running, but my mother can't run.' Isom said.
They said they could hear the gunshots getting closer and closer as the nightmare unfolded.
"I saw my, my mom's whole body over my child." Dezhane Tomsdixon said.
Tomsdixon says she was hiding behind a trash can when she felt called to get up and that’s when she saw the gunman.
"I heard her say, 'mama, he's in all black, he's got a rifle. He's coming your way. Get up'." Isom said.
Tomsdixon says that's when more people started running away from the area. Shoppers recalled hiding in various locations, as the mall ordered everyone to shelter in place. She went back for her grandmother who couldn't get up because she hurt her knee.
"I didn't want her to get shot coming for me," Linda Brooks said.
They described the scene as a war zone.
"It was horrific, to see their bodies on the ground and see that blood and know that we were just great. that's when she said Mama my heart, my heart can take this my heart can you take this" Isom said.
Those who lived through it are still in shock and disbelief.
"I just remember saying God shield us," Isom said.
They say they were able to make it out alive by the grace of God.