(Trends Wide) — As the sound of gunshots began to echo through the parking lot of the Allen Premium Outlets near Dallas, panicked customers screamed and ducked behind rows of cars as others ran across the parking lot, video shows. recorded by a witness.

Inside the complex, located in suburban Allen, employees, customers and families with young children took refuge in storage rooms or back hallways, witnesses told Trends Wide.

Eight people were killed and at least seven others injured when a gunman opened fire at the mall on Saturday afternoon, in the latest act of gun violence to rock an American community that enjoys activities in public places.

The shooter was killed by an Allen Police Department officer who was at the mall on a call unrelated to the incident, police said. Investigators believe the attacker acted alone.

A photo obtained by Trends Wide shows what appears to be the attacker lying on the ground after being shot, with an AR-15 firearm nearby. He is dressed in a black bulletproof vest and appears to have several additional magazines strapped to his vest.

At least nine people were rushed to trauma centers, two of whom died, according to Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd. Of the surviving victims, three are in critical condition and were undergoing surgery, while four were in stable condition as of Saturday night.

A Dallas-area medical group said it treated victims as young as 5 on Saturday.

A witness, Kingsley Ezeh, told Trends Wide that he was walking inside the mall when the people behind him suddenly started running.

“I turned around and saw two women running towards me, and then one was saying, ‘Someone’s shooting! Someone’s shooting.’

Behind the fleeing women, Ezeh said he could see a man holding his neck, “blood was dripping from it.”

Ezeh took refuge with other people in the back of a store for about an hour before the police came for them, he said. Other witnesses reported that they sheltered in place for two hours while police cleared the scene.

An aerial view showed hundreds of customers, some with their hands up, between police vehicles and ambulances as they were escorted from the scene. The images also appear to show at least three corpses covered by sheets outside the mall.

Police believe they have identified the vehicle of the suspect who died, which was examined by the bomb squad as a precaution, a police source told Trends Wide.

Rep. Keith Self, whose district includes Allen, said the attack could have been deadlier had it not been for the quick response by law enforcement.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to the first responders who rushed to the shooting and moved quickly to neutralize the threat,” said Self, a Republican.

The attack is the latest in a relentless series of gun violence across the United States that has inflicted terror on communities in their daily lives in schools, supermarkets, parks and shopping malls. It comes just days after authorities say an enraged gunman opened fire at a medical center in Atlanta, Georgia, killing a woman and injuring four others.

There have been nearly 200 mass shootings in the country so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which, like Trends Wide, defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are injured by gunshots, excluding the attacker.

“I heard her start to pray”

Kimberly Blakey said she and her 14-year-old daughter were among the crowd trying to flee the parking lot during the attack.

“The shooting was repeated over and over again. It wouldn’t stop,” he said.

In her eagerness to flee, Blakey initially drove towards the location of the shots before her daughter told her to turn around. But as she headed for the exit, she got stuck behind other cars trying to do the same.

It was then that he felt that his vehicle had received two bullet wounds.

“I told my daughter to get down. She did and I heard her start to pray,” Blakey said.

They were both able to pull out of the parking lot and didn’t stop until they got home, even when Blakey realized her vehicle’s puncture warning light had come on.

“We had a mission to get out of there,” he said.

The shooting was deeply disturbing, said Fatburger employee Tiffany Gipson, who told Trends Wide that she and other customers hid in a hallway behind her mall restaurant.

“I’ve never witnessed anything like this. This is very traumatic for me and I already suffer from anxiety and seizures,” Gipson said.

Josh Campbell, Ashley Killough, Keith Allen, Andy Rose, Paradise Afshar, John Miller, Phil Gast y Emma Tucker de Trends Wide contribuyeron a este reporte.