A cable news anchor fought back tears while hearing a survivor of the shooting in Odessa and Midland, Texas, describe the gunman following her car.
Shauna Saxton appeared on MSNBC Sunday and gave a harrowing account of how the gunman, identified as Seth Ator, chased after her and she says likely shot at her. Anchor Alex Witt struggled to maintain her composure after Saxton became emotional during the interview.
“We started driving fast, that’s all I could think to do. I had to get away from that gold car,” Saxton described, noting that she and her husband were followed for about a mile until they reached a stoplight and she turned right. Saxton said they thought it was road rage at first, and noted that she heard six gunshots, which she believed were targeting her.
“My next thought that went through my head was just all the people that were there and I couldn’t warn them. I couldn’t tell them,” she recounted.
Saxton said at one point she got a look at the man driving the car.
“He looked crazy,” she said. “His eyes — he looked crazed. Excited. Not excited in a happy or good way, just amped up, maybe is a better word, and he wasn’t right. He wasn’t right. His hair was all disheveled. He was looking at the gun and looking at me and then the gun came up.”
Saxton become emotional when thinking about the other people involved in the shooting, which killed seven and injured more than 20.
“I feel so lucky that I was not hurt, and I’m so — I’m so sad inside because I knew what was coming toward people, and I couldn’t help them,” Saxton said through tears. “I couldn’t tell anybody at that stoplight, ‘Drive away, drive away, drive away,’ it was terrible.”
“It’s okay,” Witt responded while tearing up. “Okay, Shauna Saxton, God bless you and your family. You take care of yourself.”
Saxton asked viewers to pray for those in Texas who are suffering.
“Yep, we do that a lot unfortunately, but we do,” Witt said.
