A frantic dad who rushed to the scene of the Saturday mass shooting at a Texas mall recounted the horrors of losing three victims he had tried to save and finding a blood-soaked child who survived the violence by taking shelter underneath his slain mother.
The massacre left nine people dead, including the yet-to-be- identified gunman, and seven people injured.
Steven Spainhouer raced to the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, 25 miles north of Dallas, around 3:30 p.m. after his son, who worked at the mall’s H&M, called to say multiple shots had been fired in a terrifying onslaught that would eventually claim the lives of eight people.
“I never imagined in 100 years I would be thrust into the position of being the first first responder on the site to take care of people,” Spainhour told CBS News.
The Good Samaritan said that he arrived before any first responders and quickly began to administer first aid — all while other bystanders took videos of the bloodied victims laying on the ground.
“The first girl I walked up to was crouched down covering her head in the bushes, so I felt for a pulse, pulled her head to the side and she had no face,” Spainhouer told the network.
He then discovered a child who survived the massacre by hiding under his mother, who had died.
“When I rolled the mother over, he came out. I asked him if he was OK and he said, ‘My mom is hurt, my mom is hurt,’” Spainhouer recalled. “So rather than traumatize him anymore, I pulled him around the corner sat him down. He was covered from head to toe…like somebody poured blood on him.”
When asked if he thought his life-saving efforts made any difference Spainhouer said he wasn’t sure, since three people he had tried to help died.
The images of the bloodied victims are something Spainhouer says will stay with him for the rest of his life.
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