On the afternoon of May 6, 2023, the sun was shining and the Allen Premium Outlets were buzzing with people from all over North Texas. Then, first responders got the call they’d long prepared for but one they’d hoped would never come.
“I heard the radio officer say that he thought he had shots fired at the outlet mall,” said Allen Police Lieutenant Kris Wirstrom.
“It became very real that this wasn't just another incident, this wasn't another training scenario, that this was in fact our mass shooting, our incident,” said Allen Fire Department Division Chief Daniel Williams.
Williams and Wirstrom were among the first to respond to the outlets after investigators say a gunman, clad in tactical gear and armed with several weapons, stopped his car in the south parking lot and opened fire on shoppers.
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“I just remember the first thing getting there and just the chaos of the scene. So many people trying to leave, trying to get away,” said Williams.
As those who could fled, police moved towards the danger, knowing it could be lurking anywhere across the open, 53-acre property.
“I knew that we were going have to move intentionally and we were going to have to be efficient in our movements or something that was already out of control was going to get worse than what it already was,” said Wirstrom.
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Body camera footage shows an officer tracking the sound of rapid gunfire, racing to catch up to the gunman before firing several times to kill him.
“I think but not for the fact that the officer was already in the property on an unrelated call for service and that the outlet mall has been intentional for years in practicing for an active shooter event, the casualty count could have been horrifically worse than what it already was, right?” he said.
In total, eight people were killed that day. Among them was a security guard, a mother, father and their three-year-old son, elementary school-aged sisters and recent immigrants from Venezuela and India.
Several more were injured.
Hundreds were forced to shelter in the backrooms of stores, waiting more than an hour to be cleared to cross the street to safety, living out a scene now witnessed countless times around the country.
“It was very difficult to watch. Because I know for me, I never imagined that that day would come in this city, the city of Allen,” said Allen Mayor Baine Brooks.
Brooks took office in the weeks that followed the tragedy.
In those early days, as an investigation played out, it’s as if time stood still on the public side of the barricades. There in front of a memorial of crosses, the community coming together to mourn and pray.
“Allen's changed. We know that bad people do bad things in good places. Allen has changed as far as we are stronger together,” said Brooks.
Despite all that was lost, leaders can’t help but reflect on how many lives were saved, thanks to store employees who quickly followed lockdown protocol, civilians who sprang into action to help the injured and first responders.
“The response that day was just second to none. And the training that they went through, the training that they've endured, the training that they've participated in, it just showed that day,” said Williams.
In the wake of tragedy, they’re also aware that they must continue to be prepared.
“Just because it's never happened in the same place twice doesn't mean that it can't or that it won't, and so we don't have the luxury of taking a break,” said Wirstrom.
