Allen shooting survivor recalls gunfire, hiding and the woman who pulled her safety: Protected by prayers and a metal door
ALLEN — Death was the last thing Racquel Lee expected to encounter when she made the 50-minute drive from Forney to the Allen Premium Outlets to celebrate Mother's Day weekend.
"It made me appreciate life more," said Lee. "It made me appreciate life more like you don't think that you're going to face death in the face ... My husband told me to go and have some time out. He had my kids, who were at the time one and four, and I was just excited to like to be out without a stroller."
It only took three minutes for everything to change.
"I know that my life's testimony is one to the glory of God," Lee said.
Lee stopped in a store she says she never shops at—and then, she heard it.
"There was nowhere to run or go and I hadn't been in there long, and you start hearing gunshots," she said. "At the time I don't think anyone expected that they were gunshots. It wasn't until I saw someone run past the window and be shot in their back that I realized it was a shooting."
The subsequent moments echoed with rounds of gunfire.
"Then you just hear chaos after that. I froze and there was almost like a jolt. My body became cooler, just froze up," Lee said.
Piercing fear left Racquel frozen. Until she felt the warm, thoughtful hand of a stranger.
"I tried to hide by the jewelry case, the one that turns," said Lee. "I literally was crunching down. What was I going to do? I don't know, and the store associate, she ended up pulling my arm and she was saying, 'Get everyone in the employee break room.' I couldn't even remember what she looked like just because that day is so heavy, but she is an angel."
Lee said not being able to find the woman who pulled her to safety is an open wound.
"She didn't come with us. I still haven't seen her to this day," Lee said. "That's a big part of my story. I feel like I owe her a lot. I owe her a lot. I don't feel like I would be here if she hadn't pulled me out of that area. There was nowhere to run."
Lee and 10 others, protected by prayers and a metal door.
"You hear the screams; you hear the cries. everyone in that closet was praying in their own language. It was actually a beautiful reflection, I think, of just humanity and religion and background and ethnicity," said Lee. "Everybody there was from different backgrounds."
A poetic juxtaposition, as Lee managed to type what she thought would be her last text to her family.
"[It was] something to that effect, like, 'I love you, I'm in Allen. If I don't talk to you, I'm sorry,' or something," said Lee. "It was very disjointed. Such a weird goodbye message when you think about it, but at the time you're just trying to get as many words as you can ou,. because I honestly thought that he was coming in there for us next."
After two long hours in a hot, small closet they were freed by a SWAT team.
"We were the last door to get evacuated and one of the last doors to get evacuated," Lee said.
"At first I didn't want to open the door for anyone. There were pregnant women in there, there was a young child in there and it wasn't until they identified themselves that we opened the door," Lee shared.
"You're just literally walking through blood bags, shopping bags, bodies, and you're just seeing it all," Lee said. "We passed what I believe to be, I thought it was a police officer at the time. Now, I know that that was the shooter that I saw who had been killed."
One year later, there's plenty Lee carries with her about that day.
But like the store associate who pulled her to safety, Lee is also grateful for the off-duty officer who faced death to save many lives.
"It could have been a lot worse. I'm mindful and I'm reflective of the lives that we lost, and I carry them with me," Lee said. "I feel like I do this, and I share this message to be the voice for them. There could have been so much more bloodshed if it had not been for their off-duty officer. [He] to choose to fight, not to flee, not to run, not to get everybody else out and go with them. He chose to run into it. He saved so many more people. He's so brave."
Time and tragedy preside as unsuspecting teachers for a mother who thought she'd never make it home to her kids, her husband and their life together. She finds joy in the simplest moments with her family.
"I laugh more with them. I'm enjoying them," said Lee. "They're just my world, so I have a different appreciation of taking on the challenges of life while still being able to enjoy it."
But survivor is a title she's still learning to embrace.
"I never call myself a survivor. I almost felt guilty in a way, that I saw everything. I saw everyone who was killed, but I was still alive. I felt guilty to call myself a survivor because I am still here. I gratefully had no physical damage," Lee recalled. "It changes you forever."
Her focus now is on living a life she can be proud of.
"Life is meant to be lived and enjoy it fully," Lee said. "We don't know when we'll take our next breath or if it could be our last."