SWSMlush – by Ottilie Von Henning
A woman who was sheltering in a LUSH store during a shooting was handed a gift bag on her way out.
Natalie Locke, 31, was at The Maine Mall in South Portland last Friday (Feb 5) with her fiancé Austin Davis, 27, when the building was put on lockdown due to an active shooter situation.
The couple were in the cosmetics store LUSH at the time and staff ushered them into the back room along with six other customers.
The group sheltered in place for two hours until the store’s manager was notified that the lockdown was lifted and the police was evacuating the building.
But before they left, LUSH staff handed out gift bags with shower gel, a couple of bath bombs and shower jelly.
Natalie, a full-time carer based in Bar Harbour, Maine, said: “It was for sure a stressful situation but we were lucky to be with people who knew what they were doing.
“The store manager Jasmine was so on top of everything.
“She made sure everyone was looked after and kept as safe as possible.
“Once we were safe, she started handing out the left over Christmas gift bags they had about, asking everyone if they had a shower or bath in the home and handing them the corresponding bag.
“We were then all able to sit and talk to distract ourselves from what was going on.
“The staff really made the experience a lot more manageable.”
Natalie and Austin had heard what sounded like fireworks going off at the other end of the mall earlier in their shopping trip.
They were told by staff in a comic store that teenagers in the area sometimes set off fire crackers.
But as they were leaving the store and walking towards the food court, Natalie began to notice that something was off.
Natalie said: “As we wandered towards the food court, we started to see a lot of people walking towards us looking concerned.
“If they were with friends or family, they were holding each other.
“That’s when Austin and I decided to drop into LUSH, the nearest store to us, just to get some level of safety.
“We weren’t in there long before the manager announced she would be locking the doors and then received word via an app the staff were using that shots had been fired and we were to hide in the back room.”
The suspected shooter Ahmed Basheer Awad, 20, handed himself into police the following afternoon (Feb 6).
Awad faces charges of elevated aggravated assault, a Class A crime and reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon.
Public safety officials said one person was injured and taken to Maine Medical Center for treatment.
ENDS
