At 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning, security had removed barricades that for weeks blocked the entrance to Allen Premium Outlets, and customers began to shop at what earlier this month was the site of a mass shooting.
It's been 25 days since the attack that killed eight people, the nation's second deadliest mass shooting this year. The mall had decided to wait to reopen until funerals and other services for all the victims had concluded.
“We were expecting nobody, but the turnout’s been ok,” Willie Escro, the owner of Escros Sneakers, said. “I didn’t want to open. I wanted to leave it closed a little longer, but it was time.”
“I think today’s a first step but it’s with heavy hearts and mixed emotions,” Alf Gonzalez, who owns the Fatburger franchise in the outlets, said.
Gonzalez’s daughter was working at the store that Saturday when the shooting happened. He feels indebted to the first responders who killed the shooter and aided the victims.
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