Nordstrom employee shares experience during MOA shooting
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- A Nordstrom employee at the Mall of America is sharing his experience inside the store during last month's shooting.
"I hear pop-pop-pop-pop-pop, and I thought to myself, 'that's gunfire,'" said Kene Maxie, who works beauty, cosmetics and fragrances.
Maxie judged the shots to be about 80 yards from where he was. He quickly was thinking about more than himself.
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"This woman came into my sphere in complete panic, and I explained as I'm down there, 'Get down! Get down!'" Maxie said.
Maxie and the stranger ran out of the store, hand in hand.
"I didn't even think about it," he said. "It was just like another fellow person. We're going to get out."
And they did. After giving the woman directions to rendezvous with her husband, Maxie says he thought he'd never see her again.
Then, a text from a co-worker came a few days after the shooting when Kene was off.
It was a picture of the woman smiling, holding a gift card.
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She had come back into the store to thank Maxie with it.
"That's what brought my tears," he said. "It's like wow. She didn't take it for granted, she understood what's at stake, so that was a beautiful thing for me."
Maxie never got her name in the aftermath of the shooting, and even now, he doesn't know who she is.
"It just makes me feel like there's always compassion in humanity," Maxie said.
Johntae Hudson, 19, was killed in the shooting.
Two teenagers are charged with second-degree murder. One is in custody and a nationwide warrant has been issued for the other, who remains on the run.
