A young girl has recalled the harrowing moment she and her father took refuge behind a milk cooler to hide from the Buffalo shooter.
On Saturday, 18-year-old Payton Gendron stormed the Tops Friendly Market In Buffalo, New York, and opened fire. The gunman reportedly shot 13 people and killed ten of them in the process.
As gunfire erupted in the supermarket, shoppers and workers ran for their lives and hid wherever they could to stay out of sight.
Among the terrified customers was 8-year-old Londin Thomas who was shopping for party supplies together with her dad, Lamont Thomas, while her mother was in the meat section.
“We all ran to the back where the milk freezes were at and he was shooting at the milk and the milk was leaking through the metal, but the bullet did not go through the metal. My dad was just trying to hide me,” Londin recalled.
She added: “I was scared for my mom. I did not know what happened to her because she was in the front and I was in the back. I didn’t know where she was. I thought she was gone.
“I love her a lot. She’s the best mom I’ve ever seen in the whole entire world.”
As bullets flew throughout the store, Londin’s father held the 8-year-old close and covered her mouth with his hand to stop her from making any noise that could alert the shooter of their hiding spot.
“They never stopped,” Mr. Thomas said of the bullets ripping everything in their path. “You just gotta think, I know I’m now in this situation that I thought I’d never be.”
When the gunfire started, Londin’s mom, Julie Hartwell, was in the store’s meat section. She immediately dropped to the floor and started worrying about her daughter.
“My first instinct was dropping down to the floor and crawling on my chest. Not really trying to put my head up, not really trying to look at anything. I was just trying to get somewhere safe. But at the same time, I’m worried about my daughter,” she recalled.
“I saw dead bodies—if he’s coming back and walking and just looking at people to see if they’re even moving and if they were moving, he shot them.”
While Julie eventually got out of the supermarket, she had to endure 20 minutes of pure agony while waiting for any news about her daughter, not knowing if she survived the mass shooting or not.
“Twenty minutes later they gave me my daughter. That was the most longest wait I’ve had in my life,” Hartwell added.
Our thoughts remain with the victims of the Buffalo mass shooting and their families.
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