‘Nowhere is safe’: Fear and anguish grip shoppers after Texas mall shooting

DALLAS — Schools. Churches. Hospitals. Supermarkets. Concerts. Workplaces. Movie theaters. And malls.

Kenia Paraza, an Arlington mother of three, mulls that list in her head, weighing the risk of a simple errand or fun outing. Is it safe? Is it worth it? With three children under the age of 4, the relentless drum of mass shootings haunts Paraza.

She no longer lingers at stores. Groceries are delivered. Next year, she is considering home-schooling her oldest rather than sending her to school.

“Nowhere is safe,” Paraza, 35, said. “We know it can happen everywhere because it does happen everywhere.”

Two days after a gunman opened fire at a crowded mall in Allen, killing eight and wounding seven, shoppers at a Grand Prairie outlet mall Monday said they are apprehensive, frustrated, angry and exhausted.

Paraza considered delaying an errand to return baby clothes, but instead decided to rush in and out of The Gap while maneuvering her three children. She parked nearby in case she needed to flee quickly.

“I’m feeling very nervous,” she said. “We just say our prayers and hope this gets better.”

While the Allen outlet mall remains closed indefinitely, other shopping centers have heightened security, including Grand Prairie, where additional officers are patrolling the mall and Asia Times Square, a sprawling Asian market.

Similarly, Frisco has additional officers stationed in and around Stonebriar Centre. Just hours after the Allen shooting Saturday, Stonebriar Centre mall was evacuated for reports of gunfire, but police could find no evidence of shots fired.

In Arlington, the Parks Mall and Arlington Highlands employ independent security teams but hire off-duty Arlington officers to supplement. The department also operates a patrol unit whose primary duty is to monitor the busy I-20 shopping corridor.

Shoppers said additional officers are a welcome sight, but they alone do not fully ease their fears.

Michael Wright, who lives in Dallas’ Bishop Arts, said he found himself glancing at fellow shoppers and searching for the closest exits as he browsed cologne. The 71-year-old said he is particularly fearful for his nine grandchildren, who enjoy socializing at malls and other public places.

“I’m leery. I’m constantly aware of my surroundings, looking over my shoulder,” Wright said. “There is so much hatred and so many guns.”

Wright is hardly alone.

Seven in 10 adults cite mass shootings as a significant stressor, making it the most common source of stress, according to the American Psychological Association. One-third of adults said they avoid certain places and events as a result, according to a 2020 survey by the association.

These acts of violence have permeated our culture, causing a collective grief and trauma, the organization’s president Dr. Thema Bryant said in a statement. “For many Americans,” she added, “no place feels safe anymore.”

Mass shootings have risen sharply in recent years, from 273 such incidents in 2014 to 647 in 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive, an online database of gun violence incidents in the U.S. The archive defines mass shootings as incidents in which four or more people are shot, even if no one was killed.

Overall, they still account for a small fraction of all gun-related murders. In 2022, more than 600 people were killed and 2,700 wounded in mass shootings. That same year, more than 20,000 people died of gun violence in the U.S., and an additional 24,000 died of suicide by firearms.

In Grand Prairie, Sam Khadla, who runs the mall’s Snack Shop, said he watched news of the Allen shooting with trepidation. Khadla, who lives in Grand Prairie and has worked at the mall for the past eight years, said he has grown somewhat resigned to the fear.

“It’s a scary time,” he said. “It’s just too easy for a crazy person with a gun.”

———