A Surviver's Perspective: the Omaha Mall Shooting

A horrible incident occurred at an Omaha, Nebraska shopping mall today: a gunmen shot at least 15 people, killing 8 and later turning the gun on himself. When I first heard this news, my heart dropped. I have an aunt and cousin who were visiting family in Omaha, and had mentioned shopping at the very mall in question this morning. I made a rash of frantic phone calls, only to discover that they had, in fact, been shopping there when the gunman opened fire. Thankfully, none of my family members were injured in the unbelievable assault, and one of them, Ms. Angela Merryfield, was gracious enough to allow me an interview via telephone call chronicling that harrowing ordeal.

Me: I understand you had been shopping in the Westroads Mall when the shooting happened, correct?

AM: Yes, that's right. We actually started off our morning at the mall, so we'd spent most of the day wandering around, looking for Christmas gifts. I have a lot of people to buy for, and we were really trying to look for the good sales.

Me: So, how did you even know that anything was out of the ordinary in the mall?

AM: Well, we were standing in front of Old Navy looking at the sales display, when I heard something popping. At first I was really confused, and looked around to see if I could tell what it was. Then we heard people start screaming and saw a lot of people running around and looking up, and I knew something was wrong. Then there was another batch of popping, this one set was longer. And it seemed to be harder to hear, over all of the screaming. Then I got kind of scared, and we started to run, trying to get out of there. It wasn't until we were almost outside that I realized "Oh my God, someone's actually in there shooting at people."

Me: Looking up? Like, just standing there and looking around?

AM: Yeah, like they were looking to see where the guy was doing. It was so strange, there were a couple of people standing completely still in all the people and screaming. They were just like, casually standing there looking up, like nothing was wrong. And it made me want to yell at them, to tell them, "Someone's up there killing people! You need to move!" But I couldn't say anything...

Me: I looked up the mall on their website, and it shows that the Old navy store is actually right below the corner from the Von Maur department store, where the shooter was standing. Did you know just how close you were to what was happening?

AM:No, we didn't know anything really. It was so scary, and like, everything was moving in a fog. People seemed to be going so slow, just taking their time around us. It was like panic in slow motion. I kept thinking things should be moving faster, that WE should be moving faster, but like we couldn't. I don't know if it was just everyone being so afraid, or not knowing what was happening, but they just weren't going.

Me: Did you see the shooter, see what was actually happening?

AM: I remember at one point, when I first heard the sounds and started looking around, I looked up and saw like, a dark shadowy figure standing by the railing over us. There was thing long, dark thing in it's hands, although I didn't put two and two together at the time.

Me: How long did it take you to actually get out once you realized what was happening? And what was it like outside the mall?

AM: I really don't remember. It could have been just a minute or two, or could have been 5 of 6. Everything was just so out of sorts, so confusing. I barely remember getting to the exit doors and seeing the parking lot. Once I got clear of the doors and away a little bit, I had to sit down. I was shaking so bad I dropped my bags, my purse, everything...I almost fell I was shaking so bad. It's a good thing someone helped me to the ground. By the time I caught my breath, the police cars started flying into the parking lot. Cops were pulling out guns, yelling at everyone to get away from the building, running through the doors. It was chaos. They eventually had everyone move far away from the building to keep everyone safe and had us move out of the way.

Me: What do you remember about it? Does anything really stand out in your mind?

AM: I just remember praying to God to let us get out alive. I was so frightened, so scared that all I could do was thing "Please let us get out, please let us get out." It's all I could think of. I was scared I'd never see my kids again. Scared that I'd never get to tell my husband I loved him again. Scared that I'd die right there in pain, in front of all those people. I remember seeing some heap laying on the floor. It looked like it was covered in something red, like a red jacket or sweater. Once I got outside, I figured out that it was a dead body, and that the red thing covering it was blood.

Me: I'm so sorry that you went through something to tragic, so horrific. I was very glad to know that you guys got out ok, but I can only imagine how hard it must be, and how frightening it must have been. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me about it, and hope that things get better for you soon.

This Nebraska tragedy is a horrible blow to the community of Omaha, and family and friends affected by this incident will surely take years to cope with the losses.