ALLEN, Texas — "Life can be here one day and gone the next," Marcus Kergosien said.
Kergosien is the store manager at Zwilling, a store at Allen Premium Outlets. He was working on May 6, 2023, the day of the Allen Mall shooting.
"It was just an average Saturday afternoon and I was working behind the counter," he remembered. "I heard what was no doubt gun shots."
He said a few mallgoers ran into the store before he locked the door and shuffled everyone to the back room. That day, eight people were killed at the mall in a mass shooting.
When Kergosien came out from the back room, he saw a young man shot outside the store, near his last breaths. Kergosien soon found out it was 32-year-old Elio Cumana-Rivas.
Cumana-Rivas was from Venezuela. He had been in the United States for less than a year, seeking asylum. He went to the mall to buy a birthday gift to mail to his daughter.
Kergosien and his assistant manager quickly connected with Cumana-Rivas's family in Venezuela. They learned so much about him through his father, Santos Cumana.
"But Elio was an exceptional son, an exceptional son," Cumana said, in Spanish. "Elio, wow. Elio left us too many memories, for all his brothers, for all of us."
Watch the full interview with Santos Cumana here:
Kergosien told Cumana what happened.
"He was shot twice or more and he was not alone because we weren't outside with him, but we were three feet away from him. And we were praying for him," Kergosien said.
"They gave me too much support, a lot of support, a lot of support," Cumana said. "This situation is like living in anguish day after day."
Cumana-Rivas's daughter is now 7 years old. This year will be her second birthday without her father. Cumana said it's been rough for her and the entire family over the last year after the loss of Cumana-Rivas.
Inside Zwilling, Kergosien leaves a photo of the little girl who lost her dad along with a link to a fundraiser.
"This family can really use the help, still today," he said.
From Texas to Venezuela, they keep in touch as they grieve and heal together.