Surviving The Westgate Terrorist Attack

         Essay Assignment                    Benjamin Freitag          
Surviving The Westgate Mall Terrorist Attack
(Based On Real Life)


Cool, dry air from the air conditioner breezed through Timmy's hair as he entered the doors to the shopping mall. It was Timmy's first time visiting the Eastern part of Africa and he was thrilled to finally get the chance to have a glance at the shopping mall he was primarily sent to promote.

With a joyful face he passed by many other tourists and inhabitants who were entering and leaving the mall. Families sat at the cafes enjoying their lunches, kids having hyped conversations about all the amazing things they had done during their stay. Others were walking hastily around the mall, waiting impatiently for their companions to finally finish their endless shopping sprees.

While walking around Timmy looked for inclusive angles he could capture from the broad scenery. His mission was to capture high quality images to add to the brochure his team was making. He took a couple of pictures and continued walking further within the shopping mall.

After an hour of persistent photography, Timmy decided to have an early dinner at one of the nice restaurants, seating himself near the fence facing the first floor in the mall. The many people in the restaurant seemed to enjoy their meals, many eating with their families. Glancing over at a table where a Kenyan family happily enjoyed their meals, Timmy decided to order some classic Kenyan beef stew; committed to tasting some of the common food they made in Kenya.

While waiting for the meal he entertained himself by observing the many people in the mall. He was on the second floor of the mall, so when he turned around he could see the many people walking around. Every person was focused on their own individual tasks, stuck in their own worlds. Timmy looked down and saw a young couple having an elevated and childish argument on whether or not they would stay in the shopping mall or if they would just leave to visit their relatives. Out of nowhere the fiancé dropped a personal comment and the argument escalated into a fierce battle between man and woman, building up their voices so everyone in the surrounding area could hear them. A guard came out of nowhere and restrained the situation. He then calmly showed them both out of the mall.

Finally, Timmy turned back to see a waiter showing up with his meal. Timmy nodded gracefully to the waiter and gently moved the bowl of stew to where he sat. He then proceeded to grab his spoon and prepared to take his first sip from the stew. Timmy gently dipped the spoon in the stew and lifted it slowly towards his mouth, making sure he wouldn't spill anything. Finally, after entering the mouth the spoon arrived the destination point. Timmy was about to tip the stew from the spoon on to his tongue, but was interrupted by a deafening blast, resounding throughout the mall. Startled, Timmy dropped the spoon directly into his stew making a big splash, spilling all the contents over all his clothes and on the table.

Aghast, Timmy rapidly rose up from the table and looked towards where the noise had come from. He quickly realized it was from the outside. What the heck was going on?

More explosion noises were heard as they filled the entire mall with commotion. The many families, couples, friends and employees were struck with terror. Children covered their ears and sought their parents for protection.

Many others followed Timmy when he rushed to the large window at the edge of the building to see what was happening. The shock hit Timmy when he saw three unidentifiable men shooting at people with machine guns. This was really happening. The noises got greater and when people started understanding the issue, they started scattering to find a place to hide.

Timmy seized the opportunity and took his camera from his camera bag. He started to take continuous photos of all the despair, trying to capture every moment. He then turned to the window and used the camera to zoom in on the perpetrators. The three men seemed like terrorists. He could tell by the way they were shooting civilians indiscriminately, mercilessly, instantly. They eventually entered the building, reloading their now empty machine guns. Two of them went through the entrance and the third went in a different direction.

Timmy looked at the options he had at hand. He looked around and saw the restaurant he had been in before. It was his best option so he decided to make a run for it before the terrorists could reach his area. Timmy ran with all his might towards the restaurant. He made it back in and looked for a good place to hide. The previously happy families were petrified, unsure what to do.

Timmy found his way deeper into the restaurant and found the 'staff only' area. He pushed the door open and found himself in a large kitchen. Some of the stoves were still on. Ignoring the surroundings, Timmy headed directly for the door on the other end of the room. The door led to the storage room, which seemed like a decent hiding spot. In the storage room there were many other people just like him. They were startled when Timmy entered the room, but they were quickly relieved when they saw he wasn't a threat. The only thing Timmy could hope for now was someone to rescue them. Timmy was no hero; he was just like the others, scared for his life, terror-stricken.

After several hours of waiting in the cold and dark storage room, there was still nobody there to rescue them. By that time, Timmy had been thinking about his life and all the things he missed. He missed his family and his dearest friends. There were still so many goals Timmy had in his life. Thoughts like these kept swarming Timmy's mind and he couldn't stop thinking about them.

He couldn't handle it any more. He had to try to get out of there. He silently burst out of the storage room, shocking the others. Timmy was shaking at this point, his adrenaline pumping. Luckily no one had spotted him. He looked for a way to get around the terrorists and that was when a thought struck him: he had to get to the roof! There were large vents he could climb through, but he just had to get up there. Timmy silently climbed on top of an oven and continued up to the vents. He pushed open a vent and climbed through, closing it behind him.

The vent went directly upwards from there on. Timmy decided to climb up the vent using the technique where he squeezed his back to the wall behind him and his feet to the wall in front of him and he pushed himself upwards using his feet. When he reached the top he had to take a long break to catch his breath. He had almost no energy to spare at all. In front of him was another vent facing outwards. He could barely see through the gap but realized he was on the very roof of the building. After a good five minutes he decided to head off. He dragged the vent open and snuck out. He then ran to the very edge of the roof and found an emergency escape ladder. The relief shook through his body like a breeze as he climbed down the ladder and let his feet finally touch the ground again. Timmy ran off and away from the building. There were apparently no terrorists on the outside of the building since the police forces had sieged the area around the building.

Timmy was taken care of and was given a place to rest. He remembered his camera and started to scroll through the images. This wasn't exactly what they were looking for in the travel brochure.



Benjamin Freitag




Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zvon2eualE
http://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R43245.pdf
Council Of Foreign Relations: http://www.cfr.org/somalia/al-shabab/p18650
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westgate_shopping_mall_attack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Africa#Geography_and_climate
http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/start?s=t
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/swarm?s=t
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westgate_shopping_mall_attack#/media/File:Onlookers_of_the_Westgate_incident_from_the_roof_of_a_nearby_hotel.jpg
Google Images