LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Sunday’s shooting at Fayette Mall left many people shaken, but by the next day, one woman says she shifted more into a feeling of gratitude for an employee who helped shoppers get out of the mall safely.
When shots rang out, hundreds of people throughout the building panicked, many not even knowing what happened at first.
“The rumors about the situation started before we even got out of the building,” said Danielle King.
King says she was inside the Bath & Body Works store across from the main entrance with her husband and five-month-old daughter. She was not in the same Bath & Body Works location where the shooting happened.
She was toward the front when she saw several people running.
“I saw everybody at Starbucks drop their stuff and just take off running,” said King. “Then I looked down and saw my baby look up at me and then it just hit me. We have to get her out of here.”
That’s when King says an employee who greeted her when she entered the store jumped into action, pulling the front gate down.
“When I saw him doing that, I actually had a little tiny sense of calm. As calm as you can be in that situation,” she said.
The shoppers were then escorted out the back door. King says she just wants to thank that employee for keeping everyone safe.
“It might not seem like that big of a deal to him, like he just shut the gate, because that’s what he had to do, but for us in the store it was definitely a big deal,” she said.
King said she contacted the store in the hopes of thanking the employee personally.
