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CNN Live Event/Special

Terror at the Mall

Aired November 21, 2015 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DAN REED, FILMMAKER: In September 2013, Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda- linked terrorist group from Somalia, attacked a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya. More than 100 Security cameras recorded the attack which left 71 people dead. Some of the footage was destroyed by fire but much of it survives and it documents the attacked in stark detail. But it also reveals something else, the courage and resilience by which so many ordinary civilians survived mass murder in a crowded shopping mall.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Westgate was one place where you meet people of different cultures, different tribes, different religions, different -- everything. I mean -- just setting up with most special thing (ph).

REED: At the front of the mall, overlooking the street with three busy restaurants, Urban Burger, Tapaz (ph), and Art Cafe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was the best mall in Nairobi towards the very other market.

It's the place where 4 million people come.

REED: At the back of the mall is Nakumatt, a giant supermarket with two floors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Nakumatt Westgate was the premiere supermarket in Nairobi. It had an escalator. It was a huge thing for Kenya, you know, to have an escalator inside a supermarket. And it sold everything that you might need and that was with their tag line, "All under one roof".

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'd be there two or three times during the week. You know, it's more than just a mall to buy, you know, extra stuff, it was really a part of our lives.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That Saturday was really a normal Saturday like any other Saturday. I went with my kids, my daughter Emily (ph) who's six-years-old and my son Eliot (ph) who's four. I was quite flooded in my thought because I was doing a big shop and I didn't go to Nakumatt way often. I try to do my shopping in the local supermarket but I was finding stuff you don't normally find, you know, I'm French. I am on the (ph) finding Orangina, you know, which is a drink you get in France and I remember thinking getting really excited about it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were planning on getting as many groceries as we could. We need to do it relatively quickly because I had little baby who is eight-months-old and he was heading close in that time. So it was a kind of that shockwave. We took our time but we were thinking, OK. Baby is going to need (ph) this soon, he needs to get home.

REED: Opposite Nakumatt's entrance, Valentine Kadzo had set up a display table for a computer company.

VALENTINE KADZO, SURVIVOR: It was (inaudible) because I was walking. We have a display table. We have the products so that the customer can touch and feel.

REED: A few feet from Valentine's display table, Katherine Walton stops to make a phone call.

KATHERINE WALTON, SURVIVOR: The kids just wanted to hangout a bit and have some lunch. I have two boys, a 14-year-old and a 10-year-old and then three little girls, 4, 2 and then 13-months.

REED: Katherine's two sons had gone shopping in the supermarket.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We stopped at the drink aisle because I want something to drink. So I tried calling my mom for a few minutes and then I gave up and then we went in soda line (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, that acquire (inaudible) and probably already been in Nakumatt for about an hour or so the trolley was full and we were almost finished. And then I remembered I wanted to get a bottle of wine so I actually left the kids by the shopping trolley which in Kenya. You kind of do because, you know, you don't have the culture of the fear with your kids getting kidnap or things like so, you know, that they're quite safe.

REED: At 12:30, Andrew Munyua was at the street entrance to the mall.

ANDREW MUNYUA, SURVIVOR: I though of just passing through Westgate, do a few errands, buy some packed lunch, and then to town (ph) pick my boy and come back home like normal, you have to go through a security check and I was at the door when I was being searched and my hands was (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was just walking in front of Nakumatt when there was a loud explosion.

MUNYUA: I realized the garage was such a (inaudible) now fallen down.

JON QUAIL, SURVIVOR: A grenade went off, immediately followed by gunfire. You could see people falling on the floor. Somewhat diving for cover and some were actually falling.

MUNYUA: When I dived down and (inaudible) to touch my chest and I checked and then I see there was blood on my (inaudible).

REED: Neil Sabol (ph) and his wife Moonhi (ph) have been having lunch when the terrorist (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I realized that my wife wasn't actually behind me. I saw her crawling on the ground, clearly in a lot of pain. Her legs look very blooded. I took her arm and dragged her towards the back wall of the burger restaurant so that we can have a direct line onto the right, assuming that it was a hit and run grenade attack and therefore, you know, being out of sight of the road was the important at that point.

WALTON: Tracer routes (ph), there were tracer routes (ph). There was that flash light as they were flying through the air.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are confused. They don't know where to go, sticking on each other. That's when I saw a white lady with three children. So they're running in different direction that's when I (inaudible).

WALTON: You know, I started to run and then a Kenyan woman came and grab one of the girls for me and we dove behind this computer display table that was there. She had Porsha (ph), my four-year-old and was laying on top of her to protector her.

REED: Now, (inaudible) and a friend also squeezed in under the display table.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My friend was laying (inaudible) that and that Kenyan lady was laying like that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a tight fit with the stuff and I was -- we were kind of lying on top of each other and all scratched up.

REED: As the gunfire to a closer, people searched from the main mall into the supermarket.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As we were running people just, this Kenyan starting pushing me and (inaudible) reached my arm through just to grab his hand so I wouldn't be separated from him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are running towards the back of Nakumatt. And that's when I though I going to get the kids because it was quite chaotic I couldn't remember exactly (inaudible) so it took me while sort of find them and I remember screaming, you know, Emily, Emily (ph) just trying to pinpoint where they were.

REED: Inside Nakumatt, a customer cellphone recorded the gunfire that's getting closer. The two gunmen were moving from the street to the restaurants by the front entrance to the mall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was looking to his face. He was young and he looks at me and he fired.

As I hold my wife behind one of the counters and as I kind of collapse on the floor and I've realized that I've been shot.

REED: 100 feet away at Dormans Cafe, Noriana Molari (ph) and her little brother had been waiting for their mother. With them was a school friend, 15-year-old Mekana Kinyua.

MEKANA KINYUA, SURVIVOR: Because (inaudible) as low as we could because we knew that there are people shooting from the main entrance. And we see people running to Nakumatt. So we ran inside Nakumatt.

REED: There was a (inaudible) as the gunmen reloaded their weapons. Waiter (ph) and Mike Cacagwe (ph) saw Andrew (ph) wounded and went to help him.

MUNYUA: So I think at that moment is somebody came and pulled me from the Dormans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had to tell (inaudible) "come, come, come, stand up. Let's run."

REED: Mike, rushed Andrew into Nakumatt towards the loading base where 100 of shoppers were trying to escape.

The gunman now moved from the restaurants towards Nakumatt.

WALTON: And we were all laying as flat as we could behind that table. You know, in the beginning I cried, I was just so scared. And the Kenyan lady, you know, kind to tapped me the shoulder and he said, "You can't do that, you have to be strong for your girls."

KADZO: The white lady told the little girl I was holding. Put your finger on your ear, and lay down and keep quiet.

REED: Two policemen guarding the bank on the first floor spotted the terrorist and opened fire.

ALI MIRAJI, POLICEMAN: I was using my rounds to cover myself. Shooting (inaudible) that I could deny him a chance to shot at me.

I shoot him at his right leg almost on his knee there. He was limping so I knew that the guy is wounded.

REED: Undeterred the terrorist is heading on to towards Nakumatt in the display table where the four women and children were hiding.

WALTON: Patrick (ph) I kept crying. She would really scream when the shooting would start she would just screamed and screamed. I have brought one battle of milk with me. And I gave that to her and she drink it and went to sleep.

I realized that I will definitely as being an American and being a Christian that it was much more dangerous probably for me, you know, I was the prime target.

AMANDA BELCHER, SURVIVOR: As they shoot, we could hear the sounds of the bullet (inaudible) to someone. The sound of the bullet getting into flash is like nothing you've ever never heard.

SIMON BELCHER, SURVIVOR: "Puff", it feels like somebody is being pump (ph), you know, and then they just drop.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REED: As the first two gunmen that entered Nakumatt two more were making for the mall's upper entrance. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right it's all happening today at the rooftop of the Westgate...

REED: They headed towards the rooftop where a children's cooking competition is taking place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you making today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're making apple pudding with the cream, cheese (inaudible) and we are making...

JASMINE POSTWALLA, SURVIVOR: We heard gunshots, he heard screaming. I personally felt that this is a robbery of something and these thugs. They need a passage so you stay out of the way and everything will be OK.

S. BELCHER: It's almost like we're being herded like sheep. So we went to the furthest corners of the parking lot of the roof away from the door and the route. And a lot of people stock in there, lots of women and children from the cooking competition.

POSTWALLA: And suddenly, we just saw people falling one after the other.

A. BELCHER: As they shoot, we could hear the sounds of the bullet (inaudible) to someone. The sound of the bullet getting into flash is like nothing you've ever never heard.

BELCHER: "Puff", it feels like somebody is being pump (ph), you know, and then they just drop.

HARVEEN SIHRA, SURVIVOR: I looked them when his gun was pointing at me and he shoot in this side. Then, I realize it I was shot in this stomach as well.

POSTWALLA: I just put up my hand and I said, "Please let the children go, just let the children go."

SIHRA: The only thing he said was that we're here to kill. You killed our people in Somalia. We normally don't kill woman and children, but you kill ours in Somalia, so we're here to take revenge.

ALEEM MANJI, SURVIVOR: I was started (inaudible) loudly (inaudible) and Muhammad is (inaudible), but Allah and Muhammad his messenger.

So, as soon as he heard that the gunman looked at me and he said, "Are you a Muslim? And I said, "Yes, I am." And that's when my wife had come next to me. And she was drenched in blood from top to top. He said, "Is this your woman?' And I said, "Yes, she is." And then he said, "Go".

REED: As Aleem his wife, run down to ramp to safety. The gunman released some other Muslims who also survived the initial attack.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An elderly lady stood up, encouraged to see that the gunman was releasing people, but she said, "You know, I'm old I can't kneel anymore. May knees (inaudible), I'm in a lot of pain please let me go." And then the man asks her, "Are you a Muslim?" And while the woman was thinking off answer to give the gunman just shoot her.

REED: The gun fire on the rooftop caused panic amongst shoppers trying to escape through the loading base down below.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lots of people came running out of the store and back into Nakumatt supermarket and screaming don't go that way they're shooting that way. So then, we were really stuck we didn't know he can get out in front and we can get out at the back.

REED: The gunman in Nakumatt made an announcement on the supermarket public address system.

ROBERT NDICHU, SHOP WORKER: (Inaudible) and we'll be going to kill everybody, (inaudible) you killed our women and children (inaudible) it's our time

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where do you hide in a supermarket? Anywhere you are, you're exposed and I kept on thinking why now? I can't believe this is happening while I have my baby with me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought the best place to hide will be, you know, behind the meet section, behind the deli counter if you like.

REED: Rihana (ph) and Makena also had gone to meat counter.

KINYUA: Rihana (ph) was laying in front me and then the next one was (inaudible) and then behind her younger brother.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody was just laying down face down and trying to move as little as possible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I said, can I (inaudible) and they said, "Sure". And they showed me where to come in. So I kind of docked on, still holding my 8-mounth-old baby.

REED: The security camera footage from the meat counter was never recovered. But the cameras nearby show the areas to left and to the right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The occasional phone would ring and we're like, "Turn it off, put it on silence". Sometimes I would look up and mothers would look at me and sort of nudge each other kind of an encouraging nudge and say, "Look it's going to be OK".

REED: Bleeding from a shrapnel would, Andrew had taken refuge on Nakumatt's furniture store room.

MUNYUA: I'm starting to feel dizzy. I'm staring to feel nervous. I'm now starting to think this could be the end of ourselves, you know, I don't know whether we'd be out of that mall, I'm bleeding and I'm staring to hear now, and I was thinking like, "Oh this will be the end of the story now".

(Inaudible) to a room, where they administered first aid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) Andrew (ph) told me that his thirsty, he wants water. And then I (ph) told him that, "Just stay put, wait for me, and we go look for water and bring it to you".

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As Mike (ph) went downstairs to fetch water for Andrew, the power went out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's when one of them saw me and shot. And I was screaming and something (inaudible) told me that, "Shut up or they might be coming looking for you". So I kept quite and started running.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The minute he go to us he collapsed, he feel down.

To be honest I've watched enough movies to know what to do. When someone is shot and they're bleeding, you have to apply pressure. At least stop the bleeding. I was a little bit scared that he might succumb to his wounds but I didn't let that, you know, stop me from doing my best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To me it's like (inaudible) thank you (inaudible), because he really saved my life.

REED: Outside the mall there was still sign of a rescue operation. It was 45 minutes since the attack had begun.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It felt endless, it sounds like no one was coming for us and I was going to die there. And then the boy next to me screaming in agony, he's been shot and he was screaming (ph), they shot (ph) my mother, why did this have to happen, why did they do this and screaming and screaming.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REED: As the lights came back on, the first pair of gun men headed for the meat counter where 20 people were hiding.

KINYUA: I told the lady that someone is coming because I could see the reflection that of someone coming.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was shaking and saying they're coming and coming and I was like, "Shh, shh, shh", thinking they were just going to walk pass, but they came and they came straight into where we were. And then very deliberately they just shoot everybody around us.

I never looked up, I never saw anything but then -- it was just the sound of just, "Buzz, buzz, buzz" (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They said, now it is your time, we have come for you. You know I still would shot you (inaudible) screaming (inaudible).

KINYUA: I just felt some pressure but I didn't really feel anything. It's now when -- when the person walks away I just looked and I could see that I've been shot. And it was a really strange physical force and I found out later that I was shot in my left leg, it enters in my left leg and it came out by my right hip.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My main concert at that point was just make sure that my kids didn't see anything so I I'm trying to get them to keep their faces down. So I was sort of holding their faces down saying, "Don't look up, don't look up". There were just a lot of blood and a lot anguish in people's faces as they lay, they die.

REED: 200 feet way, Katherine and her three daughters are still hiding under the display table.

WALTON: I was worried that my girls, you know, if they were to get shot, you know, that I would have to lay there and to watch them die or if I were to shot that they would to lay there and watch me die and I didn't want them to have to go through that.

KADZO: Where I was laying I could see there's was this guy at the doorway of Nakumatt. And I asked him, "What's going on", and he told me, "Lay down" (ph), that's what he told me. Because from there, where he was he could see (inaudible) where I could not see.

REED: The second pair of gunmen comes down from the rooftop, they shot anyone they found.

KADZO: He was peeking, peeking. Why did he think of hiding in an elephant, anyone can see you (inaudible) that elephant for the rest of my life. And I will always remember that guy.

REED: Inside Nakumatt the four gunmen regrouped. They have murdered several dozen people so far.

Outside the mall there was still no sign of a rescue operations, it was 45 minutes since the attack had begun.

GORAN TOMASEVIC, ROUTERS NEWS AGENCY PHOTOGRAPHER: I got the call of a friend and told me don to Westgate and some robbery (inaudible) dead people. So I grab the camera and drive down.

REED: Veteran war photographer Goran Tomasevic of Reuters News Agency dropped shot rapid burst of pictures as he move past the terrorist car and find the victims of the first few minutes of the attack.

TOMASEVIC: I knew they're coming out of one of the bus. It's very weird, you know, seeing dead people and sound -- funny music coming out, kind of music what you can hear in the elevators, you know.

REED: A handful of police had arrived but the sound of heavy gunfire had kept them at the mall. Ember (ph) lay behind the meat counter with her children bleeding from bullet through the pelvis.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We felt endless, it felt like no one was coming for us and I was going to die there. And I was going to die in front of my children and what would happen to them? And then a boy next to me, screaming in agony. He'd been shot and screaming, "They shoot my mother. Why did this have to happen? Why did they do this?" and screaming and screaming and I was trying to calm him down. At some point the sister also passed away. People who were screaming stopped screaming and eventually, you know, as died and so it became quite.

REED: For Muriukia driver for an American Charity was still alive.

ESTHER MURIUKI, DAUGHTER: He had seven gunshots. They shot him at once and once they realized that he didn't die. He's still can (ph) -- and shot him once again, it's very painful. He's a person who loves his work (inaudible) he was a humble.

REED: In the burger restaurants, it had now been 50 minutes since Neil (ph) and his wife have been shot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her legs had been pretty badly shredded, and she was loosing quite a lot of blood. My shoulder and arm had been in a very badly hit and I had, you know, hole big enough to put fingers inside and with the, you know, blood I was losing myself. It was hard to stay conscious the whole time.

She was clearly, you know, on the edge and, you know, shaking from what must to be in blood loss in retrospect. And clearly in a lot pain clearly very scared, I tried to move closer to her at that point, took her hand at one point and. At some point I'm pretty sure she died, I was obviously hard to tell. I didn't she was breathing.

When I knew I couldn't anything else, I closed her eyes, took her wedding ring so that wouldn't get lost. And just fell back. I think I lie on her with the -- my head on her shoulder for a little while. I tried to get (inaudible) and I can actually (inaudible) mouth to mouth. I don't know I mean after that he felt very empty

REED: 90 minutes after the attack had begun. The Kenyan security forces still hadn't gone into the mall.

While the security forces debated what to do time was running out for the wounded.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We then heard the footsteps coming back and then my little boy (ph) went quite he understood to play dead at the point. And the terrorist asked, "If there's children alive we will let them go, we do not believe in hurting children". And I don't know where it came from but I decided that hopefully this was only chance and the only change for my children and so I stood up.

I said to him my children are here. They're alive. Would you let them go? He said, "Yes but you'll have to stay. The children can go but you'll have to stay". And so I started trying to get my children stand up.

KINYUA: (Inaudible) when he asked who is Muslim and then my friend's brother (inaudible) standing up. He stood up and then he said I'm Muslim. And he said, you killed my mother and my sister and I love them very much and he is said, "Sorry we're really, really sorry please forgive us".

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I starting walking with my children, you know, kind of ignoring the fact he said that I would have to stay. But then he said, "Can you take the boy with you?" And I asked the terrorist, and said, "There's also another girl there that's alive, can I take her too?"

And he said and looked at her, he didn't look but, please, please, he said OK.

KINYUA: I thought they were up to something because -- I mean they're acting so nice and these are the people who have -- they killed so many people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I couldn't carry the boy myself so sort of just threw (ph) him in the trolley. I remembered my son saying something to them. "It's not good to shoot people, that it's not good to shoot people", you know, he said, "You're a bad man, you got to let everybody go". And the man trying to explain himself, "Please forgive us", and he was asking for forgiveness.

And then at that point I said to my children, "Shut up", you know, don't say another word. Be very quite just keep walking and I just wanted to just keep walking, you know, towards the exit.

KINYUA: And they're said, "Hey and remember" -- and so just look (inaudible) "Become Muslim" and I said, "Yes, yes".

WALTON: We heard voices of children, we looked at each other and kind of question what was going, that there was woman that was with some children and she was just walked out of Nakumatt and left.

We thought maybe she'd lost her mind.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what you do is you focus and just one step at a time, one step, one breath, one step, one breath and just trying to get out. And yet my daughter was -- like the confused officers she was just sort of just, you know, supporting (ph) along and I remember her saying, "Mommy I don't want to do anymore shopping today".

The terrorist had actually given them chocolate bars according to my daughter, as they give my son (inaudible) he said, you know, can I have some (inaudible). And (inaudible) no, no you could have take (inaudible). And, you know, it's like they were trying to appease the children and explaining to them what they were doing and why they were doing it and kept saying that we're not monsters, here have a chocolate.

I can't explain why they asked for forgiveness or why they said they were sorry. I mean, you know, how can you shoot somebody one second and kill women and children and then say, "Oh now we want to let children go" and then kill the woman and children and the say, "Oh, but we're sorry", you know, how can you -- it just shows how -- they're just mad.

REED: 90 minutes after the attacked began, the Kenyan security forces still hasn't gone into the mall.

Some civilians had been trying to get help to people in (inaudible) cooking competition.

While the security forces debated what to do. Time was running out for the wounded.

POSTWALLA: We waited for a very long time and you would expect to see a lot of armed soldiers and just coming up the ramp, you know (ph), that's what we were expecting, but that didn't happen.

REED: Son and daughter had been waiting for two-hours by the time help came.

S. BELCHER: Blood started spreading (inaudible) around me. Well how long now do I have before I just lose too much blood?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. BELCHER: Blood started spreading (inaudible) around me. Well how long now do I have before I just lose too much blood? I could feel myself getting weaker and I actually mouthed Amanda, I love you. Just -- I figured I've at least got a chance to say something priceless (ph).

POSTWALLA: We waited for a long time and you would expect to see a lot of armed soldiers on all just coming up and ramp, you know (ph), that's what we were expecting, but that didn't happen.

REED: In the absence of an official rescue plan, a handful of plainclothes police decided to acts on their own.

NURA ALI, POLICEMAN: We are very anxious to go in and see if we can save some life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police that they were talking something was (inaudible) so I told them, "What you guys are doing?" And they said, "We are going up".

REED: (Inaudible) followed Corporal Ali (inaudible).

ALI: I had harnessed all pockets of courage that I have inside me to come up there.

I was not thinking that I could die, that I could get shot. I felt invisible. That's the truth. And that I didn't even know that there are people up there.

I felt very angry. I felt disgusted with the ones that (inaudible). In my line of duty -- I've never said yes on that day. I found tears, you know, dropping for my eyes. I just run down like crazy man. "We need ambulance, we need ambulance."

REED: Simon Belcher had been bleeding for two hours by the time help came.

S. BELCHER: My survival depended on getting to hospital, ASAP. My doctor said another 10 to 15 minutes and would have gone.

REED: Ruhila Adatia, a popular radio host was seven-months pregnant. She'd been shot in the leg.

PRENAJI: I went (inaudible) and she opened her eye and she told me, "Please, help me", I said, "No, I'm here. I'm getting you out of here." When we picked her up she was still talking to me. When I put her in the ambulance, right? Her eyes rolled back and I (inaudible) I told the guy, he's going into shock.

REED: Ruhila and her unborn child died on the way to hospital.

POSTWALLA: Ruhila, that we lost, she was a Muslim. She was expecting a baby of her faith. So it did not matter. It just did not matter (inaudible).

REED: A handful of civilians have come to the rooftop to assist the Red Cross and (inaudible) toward police.

HAJI: We saw the level of destruction that had taken place, the murder and killing and the injured people and we knew there were survivors in there.

HARISH PATEL, AIRPORT WORKER: They just said (inaudible). We go and the arrest stay. (Inaudible) we die.

REED: Now, seven men went into the mall, five plainclothes police and civilians Harish (ph) and Abdul (ph) who are carrying licensed handguns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did have a command structures. We were not taking orders from anybody. Most of the police was still outside but we did help the plainclothes police officers who are with us inside.

ALI: When we -- into the ground floor of now. A Police started firing (ph) now. Those guys just started showing us that they really mean business.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They clearly saw one of the gunmen so I took picture and I said, no because it's smells bad and I said to (inaudible) we have to be careful and we can get shot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have 14 rounds and didn't quite crossed our mind that, you know, we had small guns and they have big guns. A gun is a gun. At the end of the day is how good you are with it.

REED: Having been forced to the back of the supermarket by the teargas, the gunmen were now just feet away from Maggie (ph) and her baby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And all of the sudden that happened, there he was. I looked up at him and I just mouthed the words, he's just a baby. He's just a baby.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REED: They display table opposite the entrance Nakumatt was under crossfire.

WALTON: It was instantaneous fear and just dragged.

KADZO: The bullets, they're shinny. "Pew, pew". I felt a big bang in my legs, I knew I was shot. I really tried to look but (inaudible) then I saw a hole under my jeans into my flesh.

ALI: I felt a heavy punch in my back. I realized that punch was a bullet, I've been shot. The effort that I was making I raised the grip that I have on the torn abdomen and I found the intestines, you know, bubbling out. Goran came and lifted me up.

TOMASEVIC: While I was running with him he started firing. He is (inaudible) by accident between our legs. So, it was really be difficult, you know.

He was really brave guy, you know. After that he is all right.

REED: As the gun battle rage inside the mall the police SWAT team was outside waiting for orders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there's anytime that any of us should have run away was really when (inaudible) shot. At that point of time, you know, (inaudible) coward amongst us that he would have opted out and left but nobody left.

REED: By engaging the terrorist at the front of Nakumatt Abul and his group enable to move in hundred trapped civilians to escape including Katherine's sons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We asked: "Is our mother out? Is she safe?"

They responded: "We don't know. Just pray."

We really had no clue where she was, but we knew she inside Westgate somewhere.

HAJI: We noticed that there was a lady hiding under a table. And she looked terrified.

WALTON: The Kenyan lady finally said, "The cops are here."

I couldn't see them. But the other ladies could and they were communicating with them.

HAJI: We were shocked, because she was right in the middle of the crossfire between the gunmen and us.

I signaled to my colleagues. I told them, you know -- there -- there is a lady. She is in a bad situation. We need to get her out.

At one point, this guy with the black bandanna tied on his head, my eyes and his locked. He was taunting me. He was saying (INAUDIBLE), you know, come, come. He was taunting us to come closer, so that we can engage in a fight. I'm Kenyan, Somali, a Muslim. What angered me the most was the fact

that they were Muslims, and they were purporting to do whatever they were doing in the name of Islam.

NARRATOR: One of the plainclothes policemen threw tear gas, hoping to push the terrorists further back into Nakumatt.

HAJI: We started proceeding closer and closer towards the supermarket entrance.

NARRATOR: Directly opposite the display table was a pharmacy.

HAJI: We were much closer to the lady who was hiding under the table. We were able to communicate with her. So we told them to run. And she shook her head.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I told him that I can't come because I have -- we have four ladies and three kids there.

NARRATOR: As Abdul prepared to rescue the women,Well, he found another group of people hiding in the pharmacy. He now had only minutes to get them all to safety before the terrorists could recover from the tear gas and open fire again.

WALTON: One of the Asian ladies reached out her hands and signaled that she would carry the baby for me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I told that lady, "Just give me your small baby," so I know that she can't run with three kids.

WALTON: So I handed her Petra, because I knew by then my legs were jelly. And I just wasn't -- wouldn't be able to carry all of them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They told us, we would go one by one. I prayed my last prayers. Then I say, no. I told God, I'm not dying today, no, no, not today.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She just knew. She just knew it was her opportunity to go. So she ran.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was very brave, very brave.

WALTON: Almost the entire time, my mind was on getting out, and when I would get out, and what would happen when I got out, and what I would do the rest of the day.

And I kept thinking, how am I supposed to drive home? My nerves are completely shot. There's just no way that I am going to be able to drive home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was wonderful. We know that it was a miracle.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was just the four of us. Everybody is close to each other. We don't know each other. We all come from different communities. But, at that time, we were one (INAUDIBLE) in that moment because everyone was caring about the other.

NARRATOR: Having been forced to the back of the supermarket by the tear gas, the gunmen were now just feet away from Margie and her baby.

MARGIE BRAND, WESTGATE MALL SURVIVOR: I was thinking, I have got to slow my breath down, because this baby is going to pick up on the kind of extreme fear that I'm feeling right now.

I was almost just counting the second, every single second that passed. And all of a sudden, it happened. There he was. I looked up at him, and I just mouthed the words: "He's just of a baby. He's just a baby. He's just a baby."

I must have said it quite a few times. And he just kept on staring at me. And after a while, he looked to the side at some of his colleague that were there, and said something in a language that I didn't understand. And someone in a broken voice said, "Lady with baby, stand up."

Then, as I'm looking at them, the terrorist that is in the middle in the front looks at us, sees the baby peering around, and turns his head to the side, and kind of cocks his head, and makes a cute baby face, and goes -- and waves at me and waves at the baby. And I just remember thinking, if they see my face now, they're going to know how crazy I think this is, like I can't believe what just happened.

They're killing women and children, and they're making baby faces at us and waving. So I turned around and started walking out. As I got there, this tear gas dropped right at the entrance. I had to decide, do I do I walk out into the mall area from the supermarket, or do I turn around and go back to the supermarket?

I was like, I'm not going back to where those guys are. I'm not going back to where they just killed everybody.

There were hordes of people. There were security forces outside. It felt like millions of people had surrounded the mall. And I didn't stop. I just kept on running.

HAJI: The tear gas had actually affected my eyes. So I started walking towards the main entrance. On the right side, there was the (INAUDIBLE) cafe. So, I thought I might as well get some water and splash it in my face.

NARRATOR: By now, Niall had been bleeding for more than three hours.

NIALL SAVILLE, WESTGATE MALL SURVIVOR: I would lay there kind of drifting out of consciousness. And at some point, I was aware of movement coming into the Goga (ph) restaurant.

Someone had come over and was basically washing their face and eyes in the sink that was more or less above our heads.

HAJI: I asked him where he had been injured. And he pointed to his shoulder and his leg. So I told him, just bear with me. I am going to get some help for you. And we will get you out of here.

SAVILLE: When you're trying to do what you cannot to be helpless, when that kind of situation happens, there is a limited set of options.

The biggest thing is not knowing what is happening. And so you are having to make choices without any real idea of what the consequences of those choices could be. And it feels wrong in some ways calling it unlucky, because someone set out to do this.

But for to us be there was just a matter of bad luck.

NARRATOR: Pavraj Ghataurhae had gone to watch the cooking competition with his family. When the attack began, he was on the rooftop with his grandmother.

DIPI GHATAURHAE, MOTHER OF PAVRAJ GHATAURHAE: Pavraj was 17 years old. He was going to go into university to do mechanical engineering. He wanted to be (INAUDIBLE).

It's funny. He used to make these statements to me at times. (INAUDIBLE) "Be prepared, mom. I am going to die early. So you be prepared."

He went with his grandma, which I am proud of. He looked after her while she was alive and he is looking after her all the way up there.

NARRATOR: The terrorists returned to the meat counter, looking for anyone hiding or playing dead.

EDWIN OMODING, SHOP WORKER: There was a lady who was behind me. And I see her. She was alive.

NARRATOR: The gunmen had been speaking to their masters in Somalia and needed more minutes for their cell phones.

OMODING: They're saying, where do we find (INAUDIBLE) cards? (INAUDIBLE) saying these (INAUDIBLE) it in the tills. But I don't know the password.

JARED ODHIAMBO, SHOP WORKER: After that, they ask him, "Are you a Kenyan?" The lady say, yes, she is a Kenyan. They ask her if she is a Christian or a Muslim. And the lady told them, "I am a Christian." One of them just fired one gunshot, and the lady was dead.

NARRATOR: Cashier Veronicah Kamau was killed at nine minutes to 4:00, three hours and 21 minutes into the attack. She was the last civilian to die at Westgate.

Three-and-a-half hours after the terrorists had struck, the police SWAT team finally entered the mall. But it was too late to save anyone. The massacre was over. They had killed 61, including a dozen children and three pregnant women.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NARRATOR: The terrorists left the shop floor and headed up the service staircase towards the furniture storeroom.

Of perhaps 2,000 people at the mall that Saturday, they had killed 61, including a dozen children and three pregnant women. Hundreds more were left with permanent injuries.

Three-and-a-half-hours after the terrorists had struck, the police SWAT team finally entered the mall. But it was too late to save anyone. The massacre was over.

As they worked their way down from the second floor, on the ground floor, a platoon of Kenyan shoulders were entering Nakumatt, looking for the terrorists.

They advanced through the vegetable section towards the meat counter, where six shop workers were still hiding.

DANIEL MWONGELA, SHOP WORKER: We can see them on that reflection. I told -- I told my friend, it's the police. They're police.

ODHIAMBO: I opened the door. They felt I was a terrorist. So, they sprayed towards that side.

NARRATOR: The soldiers now fired at anything that moved.

ODHIAMBO: I tried to signal at them, because I wear the uniform.

OMODING: We are the Nakumatt staff, Nakumatt staff.

ODHIAMBO: Yes, because I felt it was unsafe to just to come out physically, not when they will have shot me.

OMODING: And those soldiers, they do not consider. They're just shooting. Yes? They're just shooting.

NARRATOR: As the fired wildly around them, the four terrorists were relaxing in the furniture storeroom.

By mistake, the army shot three policemen, one of them fatally.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We put him onto the stretcher and we were rushing him out. Then, all of a sudden, he started shaking. We clearly said, we can't work like this. We are the ones who are supposed to be the head of this. They withdrew completely from the operation.

NARRATOR: In the confusion, both the Kenyan army and the police SWAT team left the mall just 90 minutes after they had arrived.

In the furniture storeroom, the Al-Shabab gunman prayed. They had come to kill and be killed. Now they waited for the Kenyans to attack. Very little is known about them. The youngest was 19, the oldest 23. All four had arrived in Kenya three months earlier. They had scouted Westgate a number of times before the attack.

After a few hours in the storeroom, the terrorists noticed the security camera and disconnected it.

Later that night, a squad of Kenyan soldiers crept back into Nakumatt. With them was a civilian who videoed the meat counter where Amber and her children had hidden earlier in the day. Fred Bosire, in white coat, had been playing dead for eight hours.

FRED BOSIRE, WESTGATE SURVIVOR: I still (INAUDIBLE) down. When I saw the military boots and the uniform, now I was relieved.

NARRATOR: The shop workers who had been hiding behind the meat locker were also freed. They were the last group of civilians to be rescued from the mall.

BOSIRE: I was very lucky. I'm saying I was very lucky. Maybe that was my day. That's what I can say.

NARRATOR: At 13 minutes past 9:00, a security camera captured the last recorded image of the terrorists.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't really blame them as individuals. They really were just ordinary men with very, very wrong ideas about life. They were there to send out a message to the world, however messed up that message was, and to die doing it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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NARRATOR: As Nakumatt burned to the ground, the security cameras stopped recording. The mall, which was under army control, was looted. The Kenyan government stood by the actions of its security forces.

UHURU KENYATTA, KENYAN PRESIDENT: I am satisfied that our disciplined forces have responded in a professional and effective manner. We have ashamed and defeated our attackers. Let us continue to wage a relentless moral war, as our forces conduct the physical battle. We shall triumph.

NARRATOR: Hundred of miles north, in Somalia, Al-Shabab also declared a victory.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We want to send a message to unbelievers. We have been saying that we will come to Kenya, but now we have come. We entered Westgate and wreaked havoc. God willing, there will be more Westgates. We have hundreds more volunteers.

(SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leave alone Islam. Islam -- the term Islam means peace. Where is peace? Where is Islam now, the term Islam? Where is it, when you kill innocent children, when you kill women? I'm a Muslim myself.

NARRATOR: For now, Westgate remains closed. It isn't known when it might open again. Whatever the intended meaning of Al-Shabab's spectacle at Westgate, the security cameras revealed it as little more than the mass murder of defenseless civilians.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't really blame them as individuals. They really were just ordinary men with very, very wrong ideas about life. When I spoke to them, there was a real calm and determination about what they were doing. They were there to send out a message to the world, however messed up that message was, and to die doing it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As long I have got breath left inside me and a finger to squeeze the trigger, I won't let something which happened at Westgate happen again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)