Terminal 21 shooting survivor recounts the dreaded night of gunfire
A Nakhon Ratchasima native, Orawan Dethirunsuwan, who was trapped in the Terminal 21 shopping mall during last weekend’s carnage, has posted an account of her experience on Facebook while the shootout was happening.
She said four members of her family went to buy some donuts at Krispy Kreme on the ground floor of Terminal 21. They were about to leave when the sound of gunshots reverberated in the mall.
They saw a wave of people running towards them. Krispy Kreme employees called them to quickly hide in the kitchen.
The employees closed the coiling door and with eight adults and two children, they hid in silence in Krispy Kreme’s kitchen. Everybody was told to remain quiet while gunshots echoed all the time.
Around 10.30pm, an employee received a Line message that said security officers planned to confront the alleged killer. Everyone was asked to lie down on the floor to avoid bullets.
Suddenly, they heard a lot of gunfire. Orawan said she held her daughter while she kept saying “I love you, mommy.”
About 30 minutes later, six or seven policemen and soldiers came to find them and took them out of the mall. They were asked to bend while following the officers.
Orawan said the exit seemed far and unreachable. The family felt like they were in a thriller movie and when they came out of the mall they held one each other while crying.
She said it felt like being reborn and wanted to say thank you to the officers, Krispy Kreme’s employees and her family.
