Young child found hiding under mother's body after Texas mall shooting

08 May 2023 , 14:55

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Steven Spainhouer rushed to the Allen mall after receiving a call from his son, who worked at H&M, saying there was an active shooter (Image: CBS)

A first responder has revealed the chilling moment he found a mother using her body as a shield to protect her child during a mass shooting in Texas.

Gunman Mauricio Garcia, 33, killed eight people and wounded seven, three of those critically, on Saturday at the Premium Outlets mall in Allen, some 20 miles north of downtown Dallas.

The man used an AR-15 style rifle while donned in combat gear before he was shot dead by a police officer who happened to be nearby, authorities said.

Shortly after a gunman opened fire, Steven Spainhouer, Collin County Texas Democrat and former police officer, rushed to aid those wounded and dying after his son told him what was happening.

His son called and told him shots were ringing outside H&M where he worked.

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Emergency personnel work the scene of a shooting at Allen Premium Outlets on May 6 (Getty Images)

“He said, ‘Dad, we have a shooting … I’m pulling people into the break room, and we’re going to lock the door,’” Spainhouer told CNN on Sunday.

"When the multiple shots happened, my heart just dropped," he told KTVT.

Spainhouer said he got there before any first responders and while a handful of people around him recorded videos of the bodies on the ground, he tried to save lives.

"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," he said.

"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.

"I rolled a mother over, and boy came out. I asked him if he was okay and he said, 'My mom is hurt, my mom is hurt.' So rather than traumatise him, I pulled him around the corner sat him down and he was covered from head to toe...like somebody poured blood on him.

A law enforcement officer walks at a shopping centre after a shooting Saturday (AP)

"It’s tough when you see a family that’s out shopping, having fun, get wiped off the face of the earth."

Spainhouer said what he witnessed Saturday will haunt him for the rest of his life.

He wrote on Twitter: "If the sight of a high-velocity impact round of ammunition laying next to the lifeless corpse struck by other rounds at a shopping mall doesn’t bother you, then there’s something seriously wrong with your thinking.

Witness video and CCTV footage from the scene show panicked shoppers in the car park screaming and ducking behind rows of cars.

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Inside the sprawling complex, employees, shoppers and families with young children bolted and hid in storage areas or back hallways, witnesses told CNN.

Rachel Hagan