When the shooting started, Mary Reed pinned her daughter, Emma, to a wall and shielded her from the gunfire. Her husband, Tom McMahon and their 13-year-old son were ten feet away.
"It happened so quickly that it was a blur," said McMahon.
They were there so that Emma, one of Representative Giffords' summer pages, could take a picture with the congresswoman.
Mary was shot three times in the back, but survived. The children, he says, are resilient. The family is healing now, slowly.
"We have talked to many people. We have talked with counselors to make sure that we heal, the trauma that we experienced," said McMahon. "The carnage and the death that they experienced at such a young age is mind-boggling. It's something that no one should ever experience."
McMahon says, despite the pain, he knows his family is blessed.
"I'm incredibly thankful for the quick-thinking people who were in line that were able to tackle the gunman to prevent him from reloading and coming back and finishing what he started," said McMahon.
You can read more on this story in the Bay Area Citizen, one of our Houston Community Newspaper partners.
