A heroic store worker died in the mass shooting at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas, after she risked her own life to hide customers in a bathroom closet, according to a woman who survived the horror attack.
Racquel Lee told CBS News that she had decided to go on an impromptu shopping trip to the Allen Premium Outlets on Saturday afternoon.
She pulled up outside the H&M store and was shopping inside when the gunman pulled up outside the very same store at around 3.30pm local time and began opening fire indiscriminately on anyone in sight.
Ms Lee broke down in tears as she recalled the panic as she and her fellow shoppers heard the gunshots ringing out and realised what was happening.
“It sounded like a war zone,” she said. “It was horrifying and it felt like you were in a dream. Like, just shock.”
As the shooting unfolded, an unidentified store associate sprung into action, ushering her and 12 others into the store bathroom.
There, the female employee – who has not been identified – hid the shoppers inside the storage closet and then left the room again.
Ms Lee said that the group hunkered down in the closet trying to stay silent for fear that the gunman would find them.
They desperately tried to call 911 but had no signal in the closet, she said.
“We were in a bathroom closet, and we were just in the closet trying not be heard, crying, praying – people were trying to call 911. We couldn’t dial out,” she sobbed.
“I remember thinking that he’s coming in here next, oh god, and I was hoping we didn’t get hit by a bullet.”
She added: “And then the store associate saved our lives.”
Harrowing footage, shared by Ms Lee with CBS News, shows the terrified group of shoppers hiding inside the closet.
Sometime later – after the gunman was shot dead by a law enforcement officer – police found the terrified shoppers hiding in the closet and led them out of the store.
As she walked out to safety, Ms Lee said she walked past the lifeless body of the heroic store worker who had saved all of their lives.
Breaking down in tears, she said the woman had sacrificed her life for all of theirs.
In total, eight people were killed in Saturday’s horror attack when gunman Mauricio Garcia, 33, drove to the mall and opened fire on innocent shoppers with an AR-15-style rifle – before he was shot dead by a law enforcement officer who was already on the scene for an unrelated incident.
Two of the victims have now been identified as a mall security guard and an engineer who was on a shopping trip with a friend.
Christian LaCour, 20, was working at the mall as a security guard when he was killled.
He was identified by family members on Sunday, with his grandmother posting a tribute to the “beautiful soul”.
Aishwarya Thatikonda, an engineer who moved to the US from India, was also identified by family members as one of the victims.
Thatikonda was shopping with a friend at the mall when she was shot and killed by the gunman, a family representative told WFAA.
Her friend was also shot and injured in the shooting and is currently in stable condition in hospital.
The other six victims are yet to be identified but witnesses have said they saw young children among the dead.
The motive for the horror attack remains unknown but investigators are said to be probing Garcia’s possible neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideologies.
At the time of the shooting, the gunman – an Army veteran who worked as a security guard – was reportedly wearing a patch reading “RWDS” – standing for Right Wing Death Squad.
Police sources told NBC News that Garcia had posted neo-Nazi and white supremacist content online.
