Steven Spainhouer’s son was working at Allen Premium Outlets when he received the phone call no father ever wants to hear.
“He said, ‘Dad, we have a shooting … I’m pulling people into the break room, and we’re going to lock the door,’” Spainhouer told CNN on Sunday.
The former Army and police officer raced to the scene, called 911 and “started counting the bodies on the ground … one, two, three, five, six, seven bodies.”
Spainhouer said he saw devastation unlike anything he had seen in the Army.
“I never imagined in 100 years I would be thrust into the position of being the first responder on the site to take care of people,” Spainhouer told CNN affiliate KTVT.
“The first girl I walked up to … I felt for a pulse, pulled her head to the side, and she had no face.”
He said one child survived after his mother shielded him from the bullets. But the mother was struck and killed.
“When I rolled the mother over, he came out,” Spainhouer told KTVT. “He was covered from head to toe, like somebody had poured blood on him.”
Mitch W
Tech journalist and analyst. Aspiring Zamboni operator. In San Diego, California.