DALLAS – After a fun-filled day at the State Fair of Texas, Michele Prouty said a Saturday night shooting at the Dallas fairground sent her into a panic.
“It just kind of struck a nerve,” she said.
Prouty, who’s from Uvalde, was at Fair Park in Dallas on Saturday with a friend.
She said they were heading out but made a quick stop.
“We sat down, we ate funnel cakes and we watched the parade and I started filming it,” she said.
After the camera stopped rolling is when Prouty said the chaos began.
“A stampede of people, actually,” she said. “And luckily, we were off to the side, so we didn’t get trampled.”
Prouty said she went up to a couple who had stopped.
“I said, ‘What is going on?’” she recalled. “And they said, ‘There’s an active shooter.’ And we were like, ‘Oh my God.’”
Dallas police said the shooting, which injured three people, was isolated.
But the panic Prouty described feeling is familiar.
“It just kind of struck a nerve,” she said. “Our 21 in Uvalde — they were the first ones that I thought of.”
While at the fair, Prouty said she paid her respects at an ofrenda honoring those killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting.
“I can see Robb Elementary from my front yard and in my backyard,” she said.
It’s a place where parents expected their children to be safe. The fairgrounds are too.
“Everybody should have their head on a swivel at any given moment because obviously, it can happen anywhere,” she said.
Prouty said after the shooting at Fair Park, it took her three hours to get back to her hotel room.
Despite the delay, she’s thankful for every second.
“Cherish every day with your family and your friends and your loved ones,” said Prouty.