My wife and I were out Christmas shopping 20 years ago in what was a packed mall in Tacoma, Washington.
We stopped in the Suncoast that used to be near the Claire's Boutique and leave empty-handed after not finding any good gift ideas, making our way south.
Just as we're approaching the Santa area, my wife stopped us in our tracks--she had remembered some Friends DVDs would be a good gift to get someone.
So instead of walking directly to where a shooter would soon open fire, we made our way north again, back towards the Suncoast.
Seconds later we heard what sounded like a loud crash, my wife initially thinking it sounded like someone was putting up decorations and scaffolding fell or something.
Everyone around paused for a moment but then more shots went off and people began to scream.
The way the shots echoed up and down the halls of the mall, along with the screams and Christmas music, was pretty haunting.
After the moment it took for people to realize it was gunfire, a bunch of people in the immediate area rushed into the Suncoast alongside us.
There were a few women were were frozen in panic, like statues. We and others were yelling for them to come inside but we had to go out and push them inside the store.
The shots keep going off, sometimes rapid fire, and a Suncoast employee put the store's metal security gate down.
The store was pretty packed with people, a Suncoast promo playing on the TV.
With a bunch of people in the store speculating what was happening, some were thinking a gang shooting or something, but after the shots kept going off we knew it wasn't that.
So with a security gate you could just shoot through, we yelled to bail out the employee exit. I think we were leaving around the time he was taking hostages at the nearby Sam Goody.
Anyways, crazy shit I reflect on. We came so close to being right in front of him, right when he opened fire. I might technically owe my life to Friends DVDs.
![image showing Newspaper clip: 20 years ago today, my wife and I nearly avoided a mass shooter at a mall [OC]](4e1fbee3-603b-5449-9d91-d003c9be9f02.jpg)
loztriforce on November 20th, 2025 at 17:42 UTC »
My wife and I were out Christmas shopping 20 years ago in what was a packed mall in Tacoma, Washington.
We stopped in the Suncoast that used to be near the Claire's Boutique and leave empty-handed after not finding any good gift ideas, making our way south.
Just as we're approaching the Santa area, my wife stopped us in our tracks--she had remembered some Friends DVDs would be a good gift to get someone.
So instead of walking directly to where a shooter would soon open fire, we made our way north again, back towards the Suncoast.
Seconds later we heard what sounded like a loud crash, my wife initially thinking it sounded like someone was putting up decorations and scaffolding fell or something.
Everyone around paused for a moment but then more shots went off and people began to scream.
The way the shots echoed up and down the halls of the mall, along with the screams and Christmas music, was pretty haunting.
After the moment it took for people to realize it was gunfire, a bunch of people in the immediate area rushed into the Suncoast alongside us.
There were a few women were were frozen in panic, like statues. We and others were yelling for them to come inside but we had to go out and push them inside the store.
The shots keep going off, sometimes rapid fire, and a Suncoast employee put the store's metal security gate down.
The store was pretty packed with people, a Suncoast promo playing on the TV.
With a bunch of people in the store speculating what was happening, some were thinking a gang shooting or something, but after the shots kept going off we knew it wasn't that.
So with a security gate you could just shoot through, we yelled to bail out the employee exit. I think we were leaving around the time he was taking hostages at the nearby Sam Goody.
Anyways, crazy shit I reflect on. We came so close to being right in front of him, right when he opened fire. I might technically owe my life to Friends DVDs.
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jokersvoid on November 20th, 2025 at 17:48 UTC »
I was the last person to salute Nadal Hasan before him (and others) carried out the attacks at Ft. Hood.
jcmach1 on November 20th, 2025 at 18:09 UTC »
My family (me, my wife and son) narrowly avoided both the Nairobi Mall terror attack AND the mass shooting at the Outlets in Allen, TX.