‘Something ​Was Telling Me Something’s Not Right’: Woman Recalls Early Suspicions Of Church Gunman

FULL COVERAGE: NORTH TEXAS CHURCH SHOOTING

WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) — As parishioners inside the West Freeway Church of Christ feared for their lives when an armed gunman opened fire Sunday morning, ​one mother didn’t think about anything except protecting her young daughter.

Being so close to the suspect who killed two people, ​Isabel Arreola just keeps thinking how lucky she is to able to share her story tonight…Something that may not have been possible had church security not stepped in. ​

From the moment the suspect walked ​into the White Settlement church, Arreola was watching him closely. ​Keeping her young daughter close. ​
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“I see him sit in the pew​ behind us,” she recalled. “You know, something ​was telling me something’s not right.”​
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Arreola told CBS 11 that she pointed out the man’s appearance to her husband. ​
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“I told him I don’t feel ​comfortable. I feel he’s like dressed in like ​a beard and that’s a wig… it looks so fake… ​I just kind of kept looking back there,” she said.
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And when communion came to a close,​ she noticed the man walk up to a server, ​say something, then sit back down. ​Then moments later, he approached the server again.​
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“I saw him pull the gun out and I was just panicked ​and then we heard it go off and we’re just screaming, ​you know trying to get under the pews,” Arreola said.

CBS 11 News

As some church members grabbed their guns, a security guard shot and killed the suspect. ​
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“If it wasn’t for him… he probably could have killed more,” she said. “As soon as he hit the ground ​I told Pablo [Arreola’s husband], ‘Let’s go. This is our opportunity to go.'”
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Arreola’s family was able to get away — ​later learning two church members were killed. ​Now, she’s left wondering why.
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“What triggered him to come and do this? I just think about… It could have been ​us. It just really breaks my heart to know people are gone,” she said.

Tonight, church members told CBS 11 the security team here ​is relatively new — put in place about a year ago — and given other church shootings, they wanted to be prepared for the worst.