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Texas shooting witness describes 'massive trauma' as he helped victims

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The moments after Saturday's shooting at an outdoor mall near Dallas, Texas, will never leave Joshua W. Barnwell's memory.

The moments after Saturday's shooting at an outdoor mall near Dallas, Texas, will never leave Joshua W. Barnwell's memory.

Barnwell, who rushed in to help those who were wounded, said he had to cut away shopping bags and purses from the injured, "because all they were doing was shopping with their families," he told "Good Morning America" on Monday.

PHOTO: Joshua W. Barnwell speaks to "Good Morning America," on May 8, 2023.
Joshua W. Barnwell speaks to "Good Morning America," on May 8, 2023.
ABC News

MORE: Texas mall shooting updates

A women who was conscious asked Barnwell, who has prior military experience, to help her daughter.

"This woman had massive trauma, five to six gunshot wounds," Barnwell said.

He went to the daughter to start chest compressions, he said.

PHOTO: A law enforcement officer walks as people are evacuated from a shopping center where a shooting occurred, May 6, 2023, in Allen, Texas.
A law enforcement officer walks as people are evacuated from a shopping center where a shooting occurred, May 6, 2023, in Allen, Texas.
Lm Otero/AP

"When I saw the massive amount of blood come out from her when I gave her chest compressions to her back," Barnwell said. "I knew she was gone."

As he helped victims, he cut away shopping bags and purses, "had to cut shopping bags and purses off of them because all they were doing was shopping with their families.

Steven Spainhouer, a military veteran whose son works at the mall, arrived just after the shooting, he said. He immediately encountered wounded people, he said.

PHOTO: Steven Spainhouer speaks to "Good Morning America," on May 8, 2023.
Steven Spainhouer speaks to "Good Morning America," on May 8, 2023.
ABC News

"I was on the phone and I started counting bodies," he told "GMA" on Monday.

He recounted the conversation he had with an emergency operator: "I said, 'I've got seven bodies, I need seven ambulances.' She said, 'I don't know if I have that many.' I said, 'How every many you can get.'"

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