ALLEN, Texas — Two Boise brothers are safe after the mass shooting at an Allen, Texas outlet mall over the weekend. Max and Jerry Gum are Boise natives that moved to Texas in recent years. The teenage brothers were working to run the Wetzel’s Pretzels when they heard a noise from what sounded like the business next door.
Quickly, they realized something serious was developing
“I went into the front and had my coworker, Marcus, lock the door,” Jerry said.
As leaders of the store at the time, Max and Jerry worked to get customers and others around them to safety.
“That was our main priority. We felt like we had to be leaders as we were the people who are running the store. We know it better than everybody else. That means that we are in charge of making sure everybody's in a safe a place as possible,” Max said.
The brothers say at first, they thought maybe something was dropped in the store next door, something not serious. In a matter of moment, it became clear the situation was dangerous and deadly.
“I think it was when we were in the hallway the first time and we can hear like banging on the store doors into the hallway. And at some point, there was like a main entrance into that hallway that apparently someone like came in that way and everyone got super scared and started screaming,” Jerry said. “The best way to explain it is like a zombie apocalypse. Like everyone was climbing all over each other, jumping all over each other to get through.”
Jerry and Max say they watched as the serious situation unfolded in front of their workplace.
“If the off-duty cop wasn’t there, I don't think we would be sitting here right now because I don't think, if you’ve seen any photos, there is a lot of ammo on hand,” Jerry said.
His brother picked up the story from there.
“Where the shooter was taken down was about ten feet away from the front doors of our store. Yeah, it was like he was seriously ten feet away from where me and my employees and my customers were,” Max said.
Max, Jerry, and everyone with them in the store were locked down for several hours as the situation unfolded just outside.
“It was just people trying to calm down. Whenever people drop something, people would jump and scream. It was really scary because I'd see like grown men and their families, like everyone's bawling. It was, it was really weird,” Jerry said.
The brothers are doing as well as they can be after going through the trauma of a mass shooting. It’s something that is certainly hard to reconcile with, only days later.
“In my head, it's like a dream. Like it doesn't feel real. Like everything about it I feel like something like, yeah, that didn't actually happen,” Max said.
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