BUFFALO, NY — In the aftermath of last week's deadly shooting at the Windsor Galleria Mall, many are still struggling to make sense of the indiscriminate murder of 19 innocent people. Though 22-year-old gunman's motives may never be known, some solace can be taken in the amazing story of David Mull, a victim of the bloody rampage who, though seriously injured, heroically dragged himself nearly 50 yards to spare himself the indignity of dying in the shopping center's Yankee Candle retail store.
Mull, whose wife, Brenda, 32, forced him to enter the garish scented-candle store while en route to the food court, said he attempted to run from the shop shortly after hearing the initial gunfire, only to find the killer had moved toward the display of balsam and cedar decorative votives, effectively blocking the exit. The shooter then proceeded to fire a loaded automatic shotgun into the store, striking Mull in the leg and torso and destroying a table full of ceramic potpourri warmers.
"I remember thinking 'This is it, I'm going to die,'" the 34-year-old contractor said from his bed at Buffalo General Hospital, where he is still under observation after sustaining three gunshot wounds, including one that left a bullet lodged in his spine. "Then I looked around at where I was and told myself there was no way in hell I was going to let them find me curled up behind a floor display of Midnight Jasmine Housewarmer jar candles."
"How could this happen to me?" Mull added. "I'm never anywhere near Yankee Candle."
Much of Mull's desperate plight was captured on mall security cameras. In the grainy footage, he can be seen inching his way slowly over the blood-slicked floors and past the contorted bodies of other victims before collapsing unconscious in the entrance of The Sharper Image.
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