Cashier at Buffalo supermarket recalls escape from shooting: "At first I didn't know where I was running"
Fragrance Harris Stanfield had just cashed out a customer at register six when gunshots rang out at Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday.
Everyone froze, she said.
"No one moved. And then we heard some more. We saw the security guard backing up and responding to the threat so we knew that we were being hit. And we ran," Harris Stanfield told "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell.
"At first I didn't know where I was running," she said. "I got knocked to the side by a customer."
When she got to the back of the store, she realized her daughter, who was also working there, was not with her. She tried yelling out for her, but was told to stop as the gunshots got closer.
"I started yelling, 'Where's my baby? Has anyone seen my baby? Has anyone seen Nia? Do you know where she is? Did you see her?' And then they're like, 'Quiet. Quiet.' You know, 'He's coming,' because you could hear the shots getting closer so I had to calm down, had to regroup," she said.
The gunman killed 10 people, including beloved security guard Aaron Salter, who fired back at the attacker. The bullets didn't pierce the shooter's armored vest and Salter was shot and killed.
"He was a very nice person. He was very good at his job. Very good," Harris Stanfield said. "Anytime we'd ask for help, or if we felt like there was any type of threat, he'd come and stay and show his presence, which is what we need to feel safe when we're at work."
When asked how she felt about her place of work being targeted, Harris Stanfield said her predominantly Black community is resilient.
"I think it's horrible. I don't like to give my energy to things that have these kinds of agendas. So I don't talk about that part as much as I talk about how we're going to keep moving forward from this," she said. "We don't appreciate anyone coming into our community. He doesn't even live here. You know, coming into our community thinking that he's going to stop us from being resilient and he's just not going to get to do that. Not here."