Speaking with MSNBC's Ali Velshi, a woman who owns a restaurant across the street from the horrific massacre at Texas church described what she saw before tearfully talking to the host about the children who were killed in the mass shooting.
According to Terrie Smith, owner of Teresa's Kitchen, multiple people noticed Devin Patrick Kelley getting out of his SUV and removing a gun, but admitted nobody thought much about it because "we're country people" and guns are fairly common.
"We walked into the store and that's when we heard the first round of shots," she described. "We ran outside and that's when the gentleman was shooting outside the church. He was shooting towards the church and he ran around the church shooting until he came to this other side. We were trying to get the people to safety, trying to get them down -- the customers -- and get them in the store. Then people pulling up, we were letting them know there was a shooter."
"Then there was silence, we didn't hear any more shots for a couple of seconds, then we heard a massive load of shots. I believe that's when he was in the church," she recalled, as her voice broke and she held back tears. "And we couldn't do anything because we didn't know if there was more of them. All of a sudden, we see one of the victims running out, he came across the street towards the store, and he was bloody on his arms, part of his face. We let him in the store. We had him on the ground. He's telling us his family is in there and somebody had gone in and shot up everybody. And his family -- he kept saying, 'my family, my family.'"
As host Velshi attempted wrap up the interview, Smith asked if she could tell the country about her hometown.
"We're a very good community and everybody here accepts everybody, whether you're rich or poor, young or old," she explained while holding back tears. "Everybody comes through, everybody is here. We would like to let the world know that there are good communities, there are good people. And if we all stay united, you know, we can conquer things like this. We're asking for prayers because we've lost a lot of people that are very close to our hearts, and a lot of children are gone. I just ask everybody for prayers."
Watch the video below via MSNBC:
