Vancouver teen praised for helping people to safety during Vancouver Mall shooting

VANCOUVER, Wash. (KATU) — A 16-year-old Vancouver teen is being praised as a hero after helping people get to safety during a shooting at Vancouver Mall on Thursday night.

Bronwynn Cruden was working a shift at her family’s business, Twisted Escape Room, when shots range out. She quickly locked the door and ran for cover, but not before letting other people in need inside for cover.

Security video obtained by KATU shows Cruden sitting at the front desk of the business. Suddenly, loud shots are heard, and she rushes to the front door to lock it. She retreats offscreen, but moments later a group of adults, children, and babies suddenly appear at the door, banging on the glass to let in as the children scream and cry.

Cruden is then seen running to the front and unlocking the door, letting the group inside to safety before re-locking and escorting everyone to the back.

“As I was going to the back, a family was trying to get into the door, so I went back up to the front, unlocked it for them, got them in, they went straight to the back door like they knew what they were doing. Their kids were crying,” Cruden said in an interview with KATU News. “There were so many people and so many kids. “I don’t know how many kids that was their first Halloween, and they’ll probably be traumatized for the rest of their lives.”

Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle praised her for her quick thinking for potentially saving lives.

“How mature of her to handle a horrific scene and with such maturity to understand what she was capable of doing, bringing them in, keeping all of those customers safe and working through it,” she said.

The shooting left one person dead and two others injured. Police are still looking for the shooter.