good night. . >> lots of screaming, lots of gunfire. they had a demeanor like they owned the place. >> panicked moms protecting their kids. >> i just kept telling them to be quiet. >> kids forced to protect one another. >> you grabbed your brother. >> yeah, and just run. >> from out of the blue a hero. >> she starts running.

>> could he rescue the smallest of victims. >> when she got up and ran, did you have a moment where you thought, oh, my god. >> here's kate snow with hostage. >> it's the modern day town square, a gathering place that fulfills our every need, shopping, eating, socializing. a trip to the mall is an escape of weekends and not just in america. >> it's the modern day town square, a gathering place that fulfills our every nd,

shopping, eating, socializing. a trip to the mall is an escape of weekends and not just in america. in kenya, the upscale and modern west gate mall was the place to unwind at the end of the workweek. it was the last place you would expect something like this. gunshots, explosions, armed men taking over every floor, methodically shooting anyone in their way. that was the unbelievably brutal scene that played out in front of a shocked world september 21st, 2013. just after the smoke cleared, dateline traveled to nairobi. tonight we'll take you inside the mall attack with scenes of how it unfolded and details of those who lived through it.

you will hear from two mothers caught in the cross fire. >> it was pretty terrifying. it really was. it was very, very, very terrifying. >> two mothers caught on camera. >> in a matter of seconds, these moms, an american and a kenyan would go from strolling through the mall to make life or death decisions to save themselves and their children. for catherine walton it began like any other saturday with her husband phillip away on business she took her five kids to the westgate mall. her kids liked the chicken place, the candy store. >> it was an opportunity to walk around, kill a couple hours, and i knew we'd go home and have naps and everybody would be happy.

>> they chose to move to kenya two years earlier from texas. they were both children of missionaries and grew up in countries in west africa. they met in boarding school in africa, married in the states and started raising their family. at the time of the attack, blaze was 14 years old, ian 10, porsche 4, gigi 2 and the baby was born in kenya. their morning at the mall unfolded just as any families might. they had lunch together. then the boys decided to race down to the first floor to a big department store, sort of like a super walmart. mom and the three young girls were finishing up lunch, so they lagged behind. as they were walking through the mall to catch up with the boys, with a baby in a sling and the two toddlers, it happened, an explosion. >> the first thing that tells

you something is wrong is a huge bang. >> yeah. >> coming from where? >> it was the main entrance, so it was off to my right and behind me. i remember turning around and looking at it and just seeing people screaming and running. >> in those first seconds, catherine was unsure what was happening. she thought it sounded like broken glass or something falling. but she immediately grasped that she and her girls were in danger. the chaos confused another mother not far from catherine. faith was in the mall with her two dren, nine-yr-old daughter and 21-month-old son. the researcher was shopping for an anniversary present for her husband. she was in a flower shop when she first heard the noise. >> it was so loud that i

actually thought it was an earthquake and the building was collapsing. that was the point when i told my kids to lie down. of course i'm scanning the area wondering where we're going to go. >> scenes captured on security cameras in the mall show how quickly the attacks began. you can see machine gun bullets flashing down the main con curse as shoppers scramble and dive to the floor. >> and then i saw trace arounds starting to hit the shops straight ahead. >> catherine's first thought, protect her kids. >> it was instinct to grab the girls and run. but we must not have come too far and a kenyan woman came and scooped up porsche and we ran behind this display table, display cabinet. >> catherine, her girls and the kenyan woman took place the only place they could. here they are crouching under a flimsy display table. >> she was crying because i was laying on her and it was very

loud. >> what were you hearing? >> everybody was scrambling and the shooting was like coming from all directions. >> catherine knew her boys had been headed toward that department store amid all the noise and commotion she managed to call them and yell out a quick morning. >> i said don't come out. go run, hide. do not come out. >> catherine knew the situation was dangerous, extremely dangerous, but at least she had some cover. faith and her kids were also trapped on the ground floor, but cowering out in the open, exposed to the gunmen stalking new victims. >> i'm telling the kids to lie down. now there is continuous loud sounds and that's when i knew there was shooting. and then i thought, wrong choice of hiding place. my daughter at one point asked me, mama, was this the best

place we could hide? >> the assault continues. you are not hearing just one gun. >> no, it was all over. it sounded like it was all over. of course in the building it was just echoing and reverberate ing. >> you could look up and see other floors? >> where i was laying, i could see across and up the different levels. it was just chaos. >> what is the smell like? >> the whole mall was cloudy and smoke everywhere. gunpowder burning smell. >> did any of them come anywhere near you? >> i saw two of them that walked from the main entrance in front of the line of stores directly in front of us. >> hold on. what did you see? i mean you saw their feet go by? >> no. i saw them. i saw two whole men. you know, they were 50 yards, 30 yards away, i don't know. >> what did they look like? >> they d tan and gray clothing and ty re carrying

very, very large weapons, very large guns. >> hearing the gunfire and screams echoing through the mall, both catherine and faith could tell the gunmen were spreading out, killing people as they went along. two mothers trapped with young children worried they'd be next and a growing fear seized catherine. her boys were no longer answering their phones. where were they? coming up -- the terrifying uncertainty for those inside the mall and loved ones outside. >> i got a phone call, your wife and sons are in there and they're separated. >> soon a friend of catherine's would go from worried to frantic. >> when she sent that, my heart just sunk. ♪

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armed men stormed into the westgate mall in kenya firing round after fatale round. catherine walton was hunkered down, crouched in a small kiosk with a stranger and her three young daughters. she was desperatery worried about her sons who were somewhere out there, but she had to focus on keeping her daughters quiet so they wouldn't attract attention. >> are you hiding from these gunmen?

>> yeah. we were laying down on the ground trying to hide from them so they couldn't see us. porsche kept her fingers in her ears. she said she wanted her brothers. and i told her that we'd see them later. >> catherine could only hope that was true. half a world away, a phone rang in a hotel in north carolina. catherine's husband, phillip, had gone back to the u.s. before business meetings, leaving his wife alone in nairobi with their five kids. >> i got woken up at about 5:00 wpm with a phone call from hur dear family friend, so i knew it was not good. >> do you remember what he said? >> there is an attack going on at westgate and your wife and sons are in there and they're separated. that's a call you don't want to have to make.

>> the family friend had been at home recovering from surgery when he got an urgent text from catherine. >> what time did the first message come in? >> the first one came in at 12:52. she said pray, shooting in westgate. hiding. >> that's a message. >> it just blew me away. i actually wrote her back, really? and she said, yes, i don't know where the boys are. she said find blake. >> i started looking on the internet. somebody put out a statement on facebook saying don't call anybody because when the phone rings people are getting shot when their phone rings. paul didn't call but stayed in touch with catherine through text messages. >> i sent a text saying get me out of here. >> when she sent that one, my heart sunk. >> catherine didn't text her husband phillip because she knew he was too far away. back in north carolina, all

phillip could do was wait. it was 6:00 a.m. and news of the attack hadn't hit the u.s. yet. >> i'm trying to imagine the feeling of getting that phone call and being so far away. >> i think helplessness is a pretty accurate word. you know there is nothing that you can do. i was so worried the girls would just be screaming like uncontrollably panicking and drawing attention. >> exactly what catherine was trying to prevent the girls from doing. >> i just kept telling them to stay little, to stay very quiet and the kenyan lady that was with porsche just kept patting her and soothing her and gigi was curled up in a little ball. her breathing was so quiet and so shallow, i kept rubbing her back and touching her because i was like maybe she's hurt and i don'realize it.

>> cramped in her hiding spot, he was desperate to reach other boys. after trying and trying, she finally got through again. >> i was able to send a text and said, are you okay and ian told me they were okay and they were safe. >> you thought your boys had gotten out. >> i did. when he told me they were safe, i thought they had gotten out. >> but they hadn't. the boys were hiding in the back of the store. this cell phone video captured the battlefield the store became. the aisles were a bullet riddled maze. shoppers were stunned. some drawing fire. and now there were gunmen headed towards catherine's sons. the other mother trapped in this nightmare had her two young children with her and was worried about controlling her toddler son. they heard gunfire all around them. >> i feel bad because i was

lying on him trying to shield him at one point and i said, oh, my goodness lying on this floor and i'm pressing down on his back, he must be so uncomfortable. that is when i put my fingers in his mouth hoping to give him something to suck on. >> they remained like this, frozen in place for minutes, and then for an hour. he was terrified her son would start crying and give them away. >> ian see his face creeping into a cry. and i know, my goodness, he is going to cry. this is it. coming up, faith makes a faithful choice. i thought now our cover has been blown. >> while our other mom becomes terrified that she and her girls are moments away from being discovered. >> i knew that if those men came around behind us that they could see us. copd makes it hard to breathe.

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catherine was still in her makeshift hiding spot on the main floor of the mall. an hour into the attack she was still trying to keep her daughters contained under that flimsy table, their only protection from the roaming gunmen. it was a job that got harder as the mall got quieter. >> there was a lull. and then the shooting started again. one of them threw the phone and

it got underneath our bodies and i couldn't reach it. >> you couldn't text anybody. >> i couldn't text anybody, couldn't get ahold of anybody. >> i was texting her and then no more texting from them. other people started calling me and saying this is really bad. they were seeing pictures of people being killed. >> and she's not responding to you now. >> just down the corridor, another mother struggled to keep her children quiet. >> you are thinking about our survival and thinking will this stop and run to an area where we can be safe. >> she told her children being quiet wasn't enough. she made an incredible decision. they would all play dead. her nine-year-old daughter could understand how important it was to stay still. her son then, too, seemed to sense it as well.

he didn't move except for an occasional blink. >> men with machine guns scoured every inch of the mall. >> we could hear them passing from time to time. but there was no way to change my position. >> as the minutes dragged into hours, knowing her son might stir at any minute, faith was relieved when he dozed off for a bit. >> he was lying there on the ground snoring away. i didn't know if he was alive. >> hot, cramped with numb mb faith urged her kids to fight the need to move. >> my daughter, whenever i felt like she was, you know, twitching or changing her position because my hand was on her arm, i would just squeeze a little bit and she understood that to mean, stay still. >> but then the two-year-old woke up. faith wondered how much longer he could hold on.

she took a chance and stayed a game. she pretended glass and bullets were insects. >> the gunmen continued to brazenly troll the mall floors looking for victims. catherine was worried they would see her and the girls. after all, she was seeing the gunmen. >> when they walked by you, were they shooting? >> no. they were walking very slow. they almost had a demeanor like they owned the place. >> like they knew they were in control. did they see you? >> they looked my direction. i knew if those men came around behind us, that they could see us. >> those men had already killed dozens of shoppers. in this video captured by a security camera, a wounded person is prodded by a terrorist. other parts too graphic to broadcast show the gunmen callously shooting people throughout the mall, even the

injured. the outside world was beginning to g some idea of how rrible it w >> loud explosions were heard tonight in the kenyan capital of nairobi. >> those still trapped inside the mall couldn't know they were part of a terrorist attack. faith and her two kids remained absolutely still. it was their only chance for survival. but her mind raced. >> i'm thinking about my husband, where is he? how will he get to know about this incident. i'm wondering will any of my children get shot? will i get shot and my children have no mother? >> faith was determined to protect her children at any cost. >> i remember covering the children, my son's head and my daughter's head and i said any bullet would have to pass through me first before it gets to these children. >> faith and her children had been flat on the floor for a full three and a half hours. when suddenly she heard something.

>> we had had voices from above us on higher floors asking us to get up. mother, mother with the children, you mother down there with the children. >> i knew they were now addressing me. but immediately, we got up on our knees and the shooting starting again. >> she thought by moving she would draw attention to herself. >> we were scared because we thought now our cover has been blown because now they know we are really not dead. >> faith didn't trust anyone now, so when a man approached, she was sure it wasn't good. >> and that's when i felt somebody touching me, i knew they had come for us because now they know we are alive. so we just laid down there and i remember telling them, shh, quiet. >> faith has to make a split second decision. their lives depend on it. should she trust the man talking to her child. >> baby, baby, touching my

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for three and a half hours for three and a half hours after armed gunmen stormed the westgate mall, two mothers had been trapped. catherine crouched for cover with three young daughters, gunmen patrolling near by. and faith and her two young children played dead all that time. they moved once and were instantly shot at. as a man approached them, faith held her position, but he wasn't a terrorist. he was a police officer. >> baby, baby, touching my daughter, baby, baby. are you okay? are you okay? and i said, wow. in my mind i'm thinking this must be a good person. then he said, it's safe. it's safe. it's the police.

>> faith's nine-year-old daughter was the first to move. >> my daughter put up her head. quite hesitant and asked him are you with the bad guys? because, i mean, i was still looking down. i was scared. i thought now they've come where we are. so my daughter put her head up. it was too late to tell her to put her head down, engaged the police officer in a conversation and then said mama, look up. and then almost against her instincts, faith began to trust. >> when i looked up and seen his civilian jacket, i didn't know who he was. and then as he sat up, then i saw his shirt. i was able to recognize the uniform. and then he said it's fine. i'm going to lead you to safety. get up. >> desperately afraid to move, it was time to make a run for it. still worried that gunfire would

erupt again, faith got up and crept toward the exist with her children. >> i remember seeing a body lying there on the steps as we ran out. but i said i am focussing on where we are going. there was this policeman running too fast and way ahead. the one with my son was lagging behind and i kept on saying, my son, my son. >> after all those hours, forced to keep her children quiet, they were finally out. >> i'm crying now because i'm free, you know. there is all this tears of joy. >> in his hotel room, 6,000 miles away in charlotte. p cophillid only hope his story could have just a happy ending. he was combing through news reports he saw on social media. >> i remember one specifically where they said somebody had just seen them bring a child's body out in the shopping cart and they said it was a five or

six-year-old little boy and i thought to myself, well, i don't think anybody would confuse our boys for being five or six. but could they confuse one of our girls for being a little boy? and that was a -- that piece of news was very traumatic to me. >> in agony and alone, he prayed and started playing one song over and over in his mind. >> i think we do have a measure of grace that comes to us in very difficult times. for me there was a u2 song that went off in the back of my head called 40, from the 40th psalm. ♪ >> i just started reading that psalm over and over again and it was exactly what i needed to hear. and, so, i took a lot of comfort from that. >> it's got that great -- i know the song. >> it is an awesome song. ♪ >> yeah, exactly. it came the inspiration of hope and gave me something to pray around during the time that i didn't know what was going on.

>> he was comforted by his faith, but it was impossible not to worry. by now he knew what his wife didn't, that his entire family was caught in a carefully coordinated, full blown terrorist attack. >> you think the worst. you know. when you know that these are terrorists and you know that their intent is not, you know, to steal something and get out of there, but it's to kill people, and you know their intent is to hurt christians, you know their intent is to try and disrupt our way of life in kenya, you know, it's -- the realities of what could mean are very present. >> he had no way of knowing whether his family was alive or not, no way of knowing that soon some of his prayers would be answered.

>> coming up, phillip and catherine's sons are trapped in the most violent part of the mall, and a 14-year-old realizes it is up to him to protect his younger brother. >> i just thought, ian first, me second. >> what he did next when dateline continues. tick protection from nexgard. a delicious chew that protects for an entire month. ask your vet for more information. reported side effects include vomiting and itching. nexgard. the vet's #1 choice.

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three hours had passed since phillip was awakened by a call telling him his family was trapped inside the westgate mall, pinned down by gunfire. he had been on his computer all morning checking for updates. suddenly he received a facebook message from a friend with a freeze frame and video and there was an unmistakable sight. his two sons alive and outside the mall. >> it was my two sons standing with my business partner, who is

a big and noticeable man. >> paul weaver raced down to the mall area and confirmed the picture was real. the boys were out. >> and just seeing them, i mean, i don't think there was any bigger hug in the world. but it was joy. but at the same time seeing the anguish in their face. we sat on the floor and he laid his head down and all the emotions coming through him. it was the greatest moment and one of the saddest moments at the same time. >> a joyful moment for phillip knowing his boys were finally safe. but too brief because he knew his wife and three young daughters were still trapped in that mall. the walton boys had endured three and a half hours in the most dangerous area in the department store where terrorists hunted down innocent victims, terrifying for anyone, but especially two boys separated from their mother. this is blaze walton.

it was difficult for him to recount the story, but he wanted to tell it starting from the beginning. the two brothers just paid and were standing in the checkout line when they saw something strange. >> what is the first thing you hear or see that's weird? >> everybody looks to the main entrance and we all look as well. everybody. and then a loud sound happens and three people go flying. that's when people realize what's going on and they run. >> three people go flying in the air. >> they just fell backwards. it was scary. >> did you think it was a bomb or something? >> i thought it was a bomb at first but when i heard the two gunfire sounds i knew it wasn't just a bomb. it was something else. >> he knew he had to protect himself and more than that, he knew he was responsible for his younger brother. >> you grabbed your brother as fast as you could.

>> yeah, and just ran. >> were you pushing him? >> yes. >> you didn't want him to see anything. that's hard -- that would be hard for me, hard for a grown up. >> yeah. >> at 14, that's pretty darn hard. >> it really is. >> clutching his brother, he raced away from the gunfire with just one thought. >> i just thought ian first, me second. >> when you headed toward the back of the store. >> other people at that time were rushing back, so we followed the crowd. >> they made it to a storeroom at the back. others were hiding there, too, including an american mother with her own kids. without catherine there to comfort them, the boys stayed with that mother. he hoped they were far enough away from the gun toting terrorists, but they weren't. surveillance video shows the terrorists made it all the way in the back hunting for mo

victims. >> i finally juspulled ian aside, sat him down behind a thing of flour. there's one by one by one meters of flour on all sides of him. >> kind of like a barricades of flour bags. >> yeah. >> why would you need to be hidden? >> we didn't know if people were going to be walking back and looking for us, so we just pulled all stops. >> ian remembers how scared he was. >> did you see any of the bad guys? >> no, but i did see someone close the gate to where we where and it seemed like they were going to shoot through it and throw a grenade to blow it up but they never got through. >> you said you were back there -- how long? >> three and a half hours. >> you thought about it a little bit, yeah. but when you were there, i know if it were me, i would have been

really, really scared. were you scared. >> all my brother and me did was pray for our family and just laid there. >> they lay there and listened. >> and every once in a while we'd hear gunfire, grenade sounds and at one point these people came in saying we're the police. it's okay. >> the gunfire the walton boys had been hearing briefly paused and those voices identifying themselves as police were encouraging people to come out. around him he heard people start moving. >> they walked out and then about 15 seconds later you just heard loud machine gunfire for 30 seconds and then it just was qut. >> do you think it was the bad guys luring th out? >> yes. >> you did the right thing by staying where you were. >> the lady we were with told us what to do and without her i

think my brother and i would have gone out with that crowd. >> the boys were holed up in that back room when police were able to break down a door and get people out. this security camera shows the chaos in the crowd after being released. look closely. they are free after three and a half hours of being trapped. relief washed over phillip when he saw his boys and the image his friends sent him. at he's his sons were okay. >> i remember thinking at that time, at least i won't be alone. you know, i remember thinking, you know, however horrific this day is, at least the boys and i will have each other if it turns out worse than we would hope or imagine. >> his wife, catherine, was still trapped under that tiny table with her three girls and now things were looking worse. a man with a gun was headed their way. coming up, just who was he?

and then a daring escape plan from an unlikely hero. >> and then i told the lady, now. >> what happened next amazed the world.

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for more than four hours, catherine walton, her girls and the kenyan woman helping them huddled in a hiding space barely

bigger than a bathtub closed off from the outside world, catherine didn't know she was part of a terrorist attack. all she knew was that gunmen were canvassing the mall, shooting at everyone. and now a man with a gun was creeping toward her. >> you were under that table for hours. at some point, you hear something?

you see something? >> i think there was a little bit of commotion and the kenyan woman said the cops are here. >> but it wasn't the police. it was a kenyan man. the businessman and father of four had received a text message from his brother earlier that morning. >> the message was very brief. it just read at westgate terrorists, pray for me. >> he bolted to the mall and was stunned by what he saw when he got there. carnage everywhere. he was terrified for his brother for works for the kenyan intelligence service and had received death threats from the same terror group that was attacking the mall. security forces were just arriving and abdul decided in an instant to join them. they entered the mall from the parking garage on the top floor. his brother was still in the mall and not far from catherine and her kids. he was hiding in a bathroom. he worked his way down to the

main floor. as he did, his brother managed to escape. >> i reached my phone, tried to call him and i see this message on my screen saying, i'm out. i'm safe. please come out. >> but abdul didn't come o. despite the gruesome scene, the blood, theodies, t smellf smoke and constant gunfire, he decided to stay and help. abdul searched through the mall lacking for victims and then made a discovery that shocked him. >> i looked down and i see somebody hiding behind a table. it was a lady. she looked very scared. and i'm thinking, she was right in the middle of a cross fire. >> catherine spotted abdul, too, but sensed he wasn't a threat. >> how did you know they weren't terrorists? >> they weren't carrying the large guns we had seen that the terrorists had. >> with just a few words between them, catherine and abdul quickly coordinated an exit strategy.

>> we opened fire towards the door to scare the terrorists away. >> then it was time. >> then we hold fire and then i tell the lady, now! and suddenly this sung girl appears out of nowhere and i call to her to run towards me and she starts running. and immediately, i'm thinking, what a brave girl. >> when porsche got up and ran, did you have a moment where you thought, oh, my god. >> i think i realized that it was precarious, but i was also trusting that if they were telling us to run that it was safe. >> for catherine, it was a gigantic leap of fath after shielding her daughters for four and a half hours, she knew to save them she would have to let them go. the image was one no one would soon forget. catherine wasn't far behind and they weren't alone. these images show the terror on the faces of others being

rescued the police in tse same moments, their desperation to be free. in north carolina, phillip got a phone call. >> i got confirmation from eric that he was standing there with him and that they were all safe. >> your whole family? >> yeah. i broke down and cried. yeah. and then it -- you know, then you can let go. then you can just kind of -- you can collapse. >> later, a picture followed. his wife and children trapped in that mall for hours in terror were now in the safety of a friend's house. together. >> simply the most precious thing i could even imagine to see all of them sitting there in safety and knowing that they had come through it. >> phillip grabbed the first night back to kenya. >> must have felt really good when he got off the plane. >> it was very good because you know the mom when dad's not around you feel hike you have to

keep it together and you have to be strong and the kids were very excited to see him. they had been relieved to finally be able to touch him and hug him and have that extra security. >> these exclusive images show the devastation and destruction of the westgate mall ravaged by a siege. terrorists with linked to al-qaeda claimed responsibility and the kenyan government says at least 67 people died. for the survivors it has been difficult to make sense of it all, to move on. faith went home, hugged her husband and two days after the attack, there was cause for celebration and time for reflection. >> i'm grateful first for being alive or children being alive. i'm grateful to be united with husband. this incident had brought us

more closer. we now don't want to leave each other's sides. >> faith and her children were reunited with that police officer who reached out to her on that terrible day, graceful he risked his life to save theirs. the waltons, too, are grateful for friends, new and old, especially young porsche who beamed when he showed her a picture of her rescuer on a smartphone. >> he saved us! >> he saved you! >> hi. how are you? nice to see you again. >> three days after the worst day of their lives, the waltons were reunited with their hero. abdul is himself the father of a four-year-old daughter and a

muslim. it is not lost on him he is forever linked to a christian family that chose to live in kenya. >> that's what humanity is all about. at that time what i was seeing was a little girl and her mother. i was not seeing what religion that person was. >> lots of emotion. >> as we have been able to tell this story and spend time with him and to see the courage of a man like that, it was an inspiration for me. >> at just 14, blez has a new perspective. >> you have seen the worst of humanity and the best of humanity. >> yeah, same day. just a miracle to be able to see both of those in one day. >> and for catherine and her children, as dismal and as dark as the events in that mall were, she refuses to do anything but grow and be positive for herself and her family. >> i don't want them to come out of this and hate or be angry about what happened. >> it would be easy to be angry. >> i don't want them to see the bad part of it. i want them to come turn that

bad situation into something positive. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> she's the little girl who won the big heart of a big city. >> they call you the miracle baby. why do they call you that. >> shot in the head at point-blank range. a crime scene that shocked even hardened police. >> dora the explorer ill low and it had blood on it. as she fought to live, this detective vowed to catch whoever left her to die. soon, he turned up a promising