So Saturday morning, Jonah found a video on his tablet of Jonny at the Disney store.

He showed it to Mama with a big smile on his face.

The implication: “Let’s go ‘here’ today!”

Jojo has a “mall routine” involving the Disney Store, The Lego Store, and every escalator in the building.

So Jojo and Mama went to the Mall.

I decided to work on installing the new keyless deadbolt on our front door while they were gone.

With Jonny getting older, he is home by himself more and I don’t trust him yet with a house key. With THIS deadbolt, you just have to enter the passcode and it will unlock (I can also lock/unlock it from my phone if I need to).

It took way longer than it should have to install (I am not the most handy).

As I worked, I got occasional updates from Mama on her outing with Jonah…

Here are the texts I received.

11:27 – “Lego store… must be a may the 4th event” (with a picture of Jonah waiting in line dozens of people long)

11:28 – “They have a line and a pre reserved number queue 😳 But Jonah wanted to stick to the routine

11:28 – (To Mama) “oh wow!”

[That seems typical. Jonah will go to virtually any length to stick to a routine. It’s funny because he doesn’t actually WANT anything in the store, just to go in]

11:29 – “The number queue is up to 63”

11:43 – “The new R2d2 just released today”

11:43 – “That is the reason for the line I guess”

11:44 – “People and their legos, don’t mess around 🤪”

[it was about here that I figured they would be in line for a LONG time. I was having trouble with the lock installation so I didn’t really pay much attention to my phone. If I had, I would have seen this next text quicker]

11:49 – “We are in the lego store, everyone ran, not sure what is going on, but we are ok”

[I think I glanced at this text, but it didn’t register what Mama was actually saying. I thought people were rushing into the store to get the “R2D2” lego set before they were all gone.]

12:41 – “Did you see my text, we are still here waiting for the police to clear the mall”

12:42 – “We are in the back storage room of the lego store”

[THIS GOT MY ATTENTION. There is only one reason any customers would be in the back storage room waiting for police to clear them.

Gun shots.

Either shots had been fired or there was an active shooter situation. When you are in the middle of it, you don’t know what is happening. You don’t know if or when the danger will pass. Was the shooter still in the mall? Are they going to start shooting again?”

Oh jeez! I reread the previous text she had sent about “everyone ran.” How long had it been?

ALMOST TWO HOURS?? 😱😳

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God….

How could I have missed it? Why didn’t she CALL me??

(And then I answered my own question. “Probably because they were trying to be as quiet as possible.”)

OH GOD! JONAH IS WITH HER!

He will NOT be “staying quiet” when his routine is destroyed. He doesn’t do well with change… or quiet… or STILL… Oh God.

Okay. I can’t call. I SHOULDN’T call right? She’s gonna be full-on dealing with Jonah and doesn’t need me in her ear. She’ll call me when she is able.

I’ll let her know I’m here at least. I’ll let her know she got through. How have I not known this for two hours??!!

🤦‍♂️😬

Stupid door lock.]

1:37 (to Mama) – “Sorry. I was messing with the door. How are you doing?”

1:38 – “We are ok, Jonah is doing really well, they gave him a cookie and some water”

[oh good. Okay… he’s doing okay. He’s being a trooper. How long will he be able to hold out? It’s already been 2 hours. How long until he reaches his limit? I don’t even want to think about it. ]

1:39 – “There is another mom with her teenage son with autism right next to us. I guess there was a shooting by th jc penny, don’t know a lot of detail.”

1:39 (To Mama) – “oh jeez!”

[JC penny is like almost NEXT to the lego store. Probably 30-40 yards away. They should be safe in the back right? 😳 And ANOTHER Ausome kiddo? Holy Crap. At least Mama has another Mama there that “gets it” if Jonah can’t last.]

1:40 – “There were people running our direction yelling run, and the lego store staff waved us over and barricaded us in the back”

1:40 – “He currently has 3 free lego sets provided by the staff, but he is being super patient”

[at least he has something to do… and has a lego ‘haul’ to boot. I wonder how he’s holding up.]

1:41 – “Check the news, it’s all over the feeds now”

[I did. Holy crap! It was the top story in every local feed. Two people had been shot inside the mall. Their condition unknown. Shooter still at large. Oh God.]

1:42 – “He just sat in my lap for at least a half hour”

[🥺 aw buddy…]

1:44 – “So now we need to wait for law enforcement to clear the mall and stores one by one”

1:45 “We have water, and a bathroom, so we are good until we get released”

[okay good. “God, please bring them home safe. Please help Mama and please let there be no further incidents and help Jonah last however long he needs.”]

[An hour passed. I finished installing the deadbolt. I started wandering the house praying and waiting for the phone call saying they were on the way home.]

3:09 (To Mama) – “You guys still in the lego store?”

3:10 “Yes”

3:10 (To Mama) – How’s he doin?” ☹️

3:13 “He’s good”

[Aw Jojo… 3 plus hours and still a trooper. I’m sure they’re through the “danger” now, right?

Just waiting for the “all clear?” Please let it be soon]

Mama finally called me about 4:10 when they had been released. They were on their way home.

Jonah did FANTASTIC.

FOR FOUR AND A HALF HOURS.

Mama said she had tried to duck down between two planters when everyone started running, but there was no way she could keep Jojo there. Fortunately, the mall workers in the Lego store knew what to do and waved everyone in.

It’s sad that they need training in what to do in an “active shooter” situation, but I’m glad they did.

What a scary ordeal.

Fortunately, Jonah didn’t understand the danger, and was able to stay in control.

Jonny was playing at the neighbor’s house while this was all doing down. I still haven’t told him what happened there.

Jonny loves going to that mall. If he knew what just happened, he would be too scared to ever go back again.

Jonah will still want to go back. I wonder if he will expect to go into the back of the lego store and get free lego sets every visit?

Maybe I’ll be the one to take him next time.

Probably should give Mama a break from that particular mall. At least for a while

At least we have a new fancy deadbolt. 🤷‍♂️

😳

Original Facebook Post.