Targeted Staff member recounts experience with shooting at local store

Kaitlyn Nash | Co-Editor

Abandoned carts scattered across the Stone Hill Target on Feb. 2 at around 7 p.m. Alarms blared and lights flashed in the back warehouse of the store where scared shoppers huddled together.

Only one arrest has been made in regards to the shooting that occurred right after the winter ice storm that started off Feb. Though it was an isolated incident with no casualties that happened outside Target and not inside of it, English teacher Emily Hall was still impacted by the shooting.

“It was the first time that I felt comfortable driving because all the roads had been frozen for a while and my in-laws were coming into town the next day, so I needed to get groceries and just restock after being stuck in the house for those ice days,” Hall said. “I was heading to the checkout and there was a loud noise and commotion. My brain didn’t register that it was gunshots. [The Target employees] told us to abandon [our] carts and leave everything. I grabbed my purse but left everything else.”

Target employees, though they were also in the dark, directed all customers at the back of the shop to the very back of the store where they keep the stock.

“We were looking at them and really they knew what we knew,” Hall said. “When we were in the back when the alarm was going off, I would say that’s when I was the most scared just because of the sensory overload of the alarm and the lights flashing. We were all getting down to find our own little place to where we felt like we could be safe. There were people with kids there and I thought how terrifying [it would be] to have a small child with you going through that. It was definitely really scary and traumatic at that moment.”

After several minutes of hiding in the warehouse, police communicated that everybody was to be evacuated outside of the store.

“The employees that were back there were communicating with the police officers on the radio and the police officer said they couldn’t find the shooters so they wanted everybody out of the store because they thought maybe someone had run in the store,” Hall said. “Then they moved us from that back section [to] outside and it was 35 degrees and raining and they had us huddled down behind the shipping containers in the back.”

When all customers were questioned, they were allowed to get in their cars and drive home. After Hall called her family members, she finally headed home.

“They escorted us all the way around the back of the store, it was still raining, and then we got in our cars,” Hall said. “I waited [for] my fingers to thaw so I could drive home.”

After reflecting on the incident, Hall was reminded of the fact that teachers may have to deal with the same thing in the future.

“I thought of it in my position as a teacher where I think about a school shooting every day and I thought ‘That would have to be me,’ and I wouldn’t know what was going on so it was really scary,” Hall said. “I know I talked to a couple of the teachers and Mr. Grebb mentioned how it’s part of our job and our world that we live in now. Hopefully I’ll feel prepared for things if I’m ever having to be the one in charge.”

Though the incident is over and Target has reopened, Hall is still impacted by her memory of what happened.

“Target is my happy place,” Hall said. “Any student that knows me knows that I love Target. I think it’s also strange how it happens and then we move on. I know that they arrested that one person, but there wasn’t really any news of what happened. We just move on until the next disaster.”