NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Families who were inside MacArthur Center during a deadly shooting over the weekend are recalling their experience.
10 On Your Side spoke with two women, Kristina Holbrook and Lindsay Norton, who were with their families at the mall before shots were fired killing one man, 33-year-old Roosevelt McKinney, and injuring two others.
The women say they both attended the Annual Guns and Hoses charity hockey game at Scope Arena that afternoon and both families were spending time at the mall before they hoped to head back to Scope for a Norfolk Admirals game later that night.
Norton says she was with her husband and two daughters in line at Hot Topic when the incident broke out near their store. Norton says they were planning on leaving the store earlier but her daughter decided to buy a shirt and jewelry. Norton says they could’ve been caught in the crossfire.
“It was terrifying. It was definitely the scariest day of my life. I heard the shots. It was at least five shots. All I heard was my husband and others saying ‘Get down! Get down,” she said. “We ran to the back of the store.”
Norton says while she and her children ran to the back to take cover with the help of employees, her husband, who’s also a first responder, stayed by the store’s entrance to usher people into safety.
Meanwhile, Holbrook, her fiance, and their daughter were upstairs in Barnes and Noble when they heard the shots.
“Our daughter didn’t know what it was. She said ‘Oh what fell?’ She thought it was just loud noises,” she said.
Holbrook says she and her daughter went to the back of the store while her fiance, an off-duty Virginia Beach police officer, ran out to help.
She says he found a deputy also running toward the shooting and explained he was also law enforcement.
“He looked down over the railing and saw there was a woman down on the ground. They went down. He and the deputy went to help because she had been shot in the ankle. He ended up using his belt as a tourniquet on her. They tried to keep her calm and administer aid until EMS arrived,” Holbrook said.
Norton says after about 20 minutes, they were escorted out of the store and saw blood, flip flops, a bandana, and the victim who had been shot in the ankle.
“I said ‘Look away, look away. Don’t look over there baby,'” she said to her youngest daughter. “When we rounded the mall area, we saw the man who was deceased. It was pretty traumatizing. I’m not going to lie.”
Norton’s oldest daughter understands what happened but she says her youngest is struggling.
“We’re going to have to seek professional counseling. Yesterday, we were out as a family and some noises really trigged some responses which is hard to hear as a mother. She heard noises and I said ‘Baby, you can’t have guns here.’ There were metal detectors,” she said.
Norton says there may be some time before her family can go back to a mall because she wants them to heal properly and not put them in a situation with increased anxiety and fear.
Holbrook’s young daughter is also struggling to understand the shooting.
“It’s hard not to be angry. I think I am only angry because my daughter is 9. It’s something you don’t look forward to explaining to a small child. That’s her biggest question. ‘Why?'” she said. “Why is it an argument that couldn’t be solved with words? Why was it handled with weapons? I try to answer the best I can but the only person who can answer that is the one who shot.”
Holbrook says she’s working to make sure her daughter isn’t jaded by the incident and thinks the world is an evil place because of one incident.
“We’re trying to make do with it as best as we can but we also don’t want her to be fearful of the world,” she said.
Holbrook believes now is a good time to talk to your children about being more aware of their surroundings as well as brushing up on first aid and CPR skills.
She’s extremely grateful for the employees who she says calmly escorted them during this crisis to the back of the store, especially one employee named Jessica.
“Jessica went into work to sell books and help customers. She’s not paid to be an emergency responder,” she said.
Norton is also thankful for the employees.
“Every day since this has happened, I think of one of the things that stands out and that is the people in Hot Topic. They were all so nice and caring,” she said.