An Odessa woman tearfully described her shocking encounter with a mass shooter who indiscriminately fired at police officers and civilians during a deadly rampage in Texas that left seven dead and 22 wounded.
Speaking with local press, Shauna Saxton said she looked the gunman in the face while sitting in traffic just seconds before he discharged his weapon. Saxton’s husband was in the passenger seat while her young grandson was in the back seat.
“I looked over my shoulder to the left, and a gold car pulled up,” Saxton said. “The man was there, and he had a very large gun and it was pointing at me. In that moment, the only thing I could think about was driving away really fast but there were two cars in front of me.”
“The look on his face was…he was not self-possessed,” Saxton said elsewhere in the interview. “It wasn’t a methodical thing. He was just randomly trying to kill whoever he could kill.” Saxton told reporters that no one in her car was injured. Her vehicle was not damaged. (RELATED: Second Amendment Looms Over Supreme Court After Back-To-Back Massacres)
Authorities have not yet determined a motive for the attack. The incident began on Aug. 31, when police pulled over a gold-colored vehicle for a routine traffic violation. The driver fired on the officers through his rear-view window and left the scene at high speed. He continued shooting at pedestrians and motorists before killing a postal worker and stealing her service truck.
The gunman was ultimately killed during a shoot out with authorities outside the Cinergy Movie Theater in Odessa.
The shooter has been identified as 36-year-old Seth Ator. He died in a Midland hospital.
President Donald Trump told reporters that Congress and the administration are working on a gun control package, the particulars of which are still unclear. The president expressed skepticism that a background check could have stopped Saturday’s events. In the past, Trump has said he is “all in favor” of universal background check legislation.
Saxton recounts frightening encounter with Texas shooter:
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