A Kelowna teen was celebrating her graduation with her family in Las Vegas when she ended up just 30 feet from an active shooter on Monday.
The teen says the moment a gunshot was fired on the U.S. Memorial Day holiday sent a wave of terror through the mall.
Zayin Brown, 18, and her boyfriend decided to head to Fashion Show mall on the Las Vegas Strip and were walking towards the food court when they heard a loud bang.
“It sounded like a book dropped. It was super loud,” said Brown. “I didn’t think anything of it. We were 20 to 30 feet away from it.”
But, all of a sudden, a massive crowd started tripping over each other, running towards them.
“Everyone started screaming and running ... people were tripping and falling,” she said.
The two looked at each other and said "we’ve got to get out of here" as they rushed toward the exit.
“Once we were outside, we waited for five minutes and then we heard sirens,” said Brown.
Las Vegas Police say a fight occurred, and as the group separated, a shot was fired. No one was injured in the shooting, but the mall was evacuated as a precaution.
Brown said she saw a single bullet hole in the ceiling at the mall.
The incident was a chilling reminder of the mass shooting in 2017 at an outdoor country music festival in Las Vegas that left 59 people dead.
When Brown was outside, she frantically called her mother to tell her what happened and let her know she was safe.
“It just feels like it didn’t happen … like it is unreal. You hear these things on the news, but you never think you’d be there,” said Brown.
