In a span of just minutes Thanksgiving night, Kristie Pate Butler experienced the worst – and the best – of humanity.

The worst, of course, was gunfire inside the Hoover mall that left one man dead, an 18-year-old male seriously injured and a 12-year-old girl with a bullet lodged near her spine for the foreseeable future, if not forever.

It also left Butler’s 70-year-old mother on a helicopter flight to the University of South Alabama Hospital in Mobile with six pelvic fractures, internal bleeding and a brain bleed from a fall she suffered in the chaos that ensued after thousands of shoppers fled the Galleria following the shooting.

Butler’s mother, a Montevallo woman who didn’t want her name used, has a long recovery ahead of her, both physically and emotionally. The family also is dealing with the traumatic experience as well. But Butler will quickly tell you: “God had a hand in all of this.”

The gunfire erupted on the second floor of the mall outside Foot Action near J.C. Penney. Emantic Fitzgerald “E.J.” Bradford Jr., 21, died Nov. 22 when police say gunfire erupted during an altercation between as many as four males. The dispute possibly was over tennis shoes being released that night, but police have not confirmed that report.

When it was over, Bradford was dead, his 18-year-old friend was seriously wounded, and the 12-year-old bystander was shot in the back. Eight other people were treated by Hoover paramedics for injuries sustained in the subsequent chaos and evacuation of the mall. Six of those eight were transported to area hospitals.

Among the latter was Butler’s mother. On Sunday, Butler recounted the family’s ordeal.

She, her husband, their son, his girlfriend, and her mother arrived at the mall about 6 p.m. It was calm, and there were even parking spots available. They parked near J.C. Penney, and headed in. They looked in a few shops and then headed to Macy’s, which had been their primary destination.

They stayed in Macy’s for several hours, and then headed toward the kiosk area on the first floor because Butler’s mother wanted to buy a nativity scene.

Eventually they headed up the escalator to the second floor to go to their car in the parking deck. It was 9:48 p.m., which Butler knows because she snapped a picture with her phone of the massive crowds inside in the mall at that time. The shooting happened at 9:52 p.m.

“We saw two police officers and my son shook the police officers’ hands because my son used to be in Army and he always shakes every police officer’s hand,’’ Butler said. “My mom and I were walking behind the rest of the party.”

Butler said they then exited the mall and took probably three steps in the crosswalk when they heard the gunshots. “The shots were so loud and were so close I didn’t know where they were coming from,’’ Butler said. “My son and husband were ahead of us. My mom is 70 and walks a little slower and I was with her. We heard the shots. My husband said, ‘You’ve got to run.’’’

“We didn’t know where it was coming from. This mob of people ran from those exact doors,’’ she said. “My mom fell and when I say fell, it was a thud. It sounded like she fell off a 10-foot ladder.”

Butler said everything felt like it was in slow motion. “She was knocked unconscious. At that point I didn’t know if the shooter was going to follow these people,’’ she said.

An educator in Shelby County, Butler said just last month she underwent active shooter training, which has become commonplace for teachers countrywide. “I knew we had to get to safety,’’ she said. “My son turned around, ran over and saw she was unconscious. He scooped her up.”

“Everybody was running, pushing. She was basically dead weight,’’ Butler said. “I think he got shoved and he fell too, with her. He cushioned her when they fell.”

They were able to get Butler’s mother to their car. At that point, she said, three young women rushed to their aid. They were trained in sports medicine and asked if they could please help.

“They were trying to get her stabilized. Then we heard more shots, and I’m not talking one or two. It was probably 15,’’ she said. “We still didn’t know where they were coming from. People were trying to look and I was yelling, ‘Get down.’”

It’s unclear to which shots Butler is referring, but authorities have said shots were fired from a car near Field and Stream in the moments following the shooting inside the Galleria. No one was injured, and that incident remains under investigation as well.

Butler said the family got her mother to the ground, nestled between their car and the concrete parking deck outside wall. “Those girls came with us and continued to work with my mom,’’ she said. “A police officer stayed with us the entire time until the paramedics came. We had people coming to offer us pillows. We had a lady who came over and prayed with my mom. It was like they were God-sent. We were there 45 minutes to an hour before paramedics could get to us.”

Her mother finally regained consciousness at that point. “She stayed awake the rest of the time,’’ she said. “She was talking to us and crying, and she kept saying something was wrong.”

“The parking deck was total chaos. There were people running everywhere,’’ she said. “We were never told that everything was all-clear. We were never told that everything was safe. I was still very leery about people walking around in the parking deck.”

Once the paramedics arrived, Butler was told to ride with her mother to the hospital. “When I stood up to go to the car to get my purse, I was looking around checking behind my shoulder,’’ she said. “It was almost like I was afraid to stand up. No one had told us they had found the shooter. It was total chaos.”

The medics loaded her mother onto a stretcher, and they had to go back through the Galleria – right past the indoor crime scene - to get to the ambulance. “They raised the yellow tape for us to get through,” Butler said.

At the family’s request, she was transported to Grandview Medical Center. “The EMTs couldn’t have been any better than what they were,’’ she said. “They were top of the line.”

Once at Grandview, Butler’s mother underwent a couple of CT scans. “She had a brain bleed due to the hit she took on the head when she fell,’’ she said. “They came back after the second CT scan and said her brain bleed was trying to mend itself, but the pelvic internal bleeding was a concern because there were shards of bone that could puncture other organs.”

At that point, Butler said, UAB Hospital was diverting any additional trauma patients to USA in Mobile. “At this point, it was either she’s transferred to USA or if not, and something happens here, we can’t save her,’’ she said. “They flew her by helicopter to USA about 6:30 a.m. Friday morning.”

Butler’s sister, a registered nurse, immediately left to make the drive to Mobile. “My sister-in-law has a friend that happened to be mom’s nurse when she got there,’’ she said. “Like I said, God had a hand in all this.”

Butler’s mother is now in stable condition at the Mobile hospital, where the family says she has received excellent care. She will undergo surgery on Monday. The brain bleed is stable but something doctors plan to watch over the next several weeks. “It’s going to be a long, long recovery for her,’’ Butler said.

Multiple investigations are currently ongoing into the Galleria shooting. Initially police said Bradford fired the shots that wounded the other two, but on Friday night said he likely did not fire the shots that wounded the others. They did not say whether he fired any shots at all, but said he was involved in the initial altercation and brandishing a firearm.

Police said investigators now believe that more than two individuals were involved in the initial altercation. The information indicates that there is at least one gunman still at-large, who could be responsible for the shooting of the 18-year-old and 12-year-old.

The news of Hoover’s statement Friday night sparked a protest Saturday outside of the Macy’s department store at the mall. Dozens of people and Bradford’s family members then marched through the mall chanting and carrying signs.

Also Saturday, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, out of Tallahassee, Fl., was retained by Bradford’s family. He and family members held a press conference Sunday in Birmingham’s Kelly Ingram Park where they demanded an apology from the Hoover Police , and also demanded the release of any video footage of the shooting.

The State Bureau of Investigation has taken over the probe at the request of Jefferson County District Attorney Mike Anderton after authorities determined a potential key witness in the mall incident is a cousin of the wife of Jefferson County Sheriff-Elect Mark Pettway.

Butler is still shaken by the entire experience. “I personally think that the world has become a very sad place when you can’t go out and enjoy a family shopping trip,’’ she said.

She doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, but she believes more can be done. Metal detectors at the mall should be considered, she said.

“I think there are ways of handling big nights of shopping. I think there are ways to handle more people in a different way,’’ she said. “I’m just saying that with this gun issue that we have, there should be ways of managing security other than a number of police officers there.”

“I think police officers go above and beyond their call of duty. They put their life on the line every day,’’ she said. “If you want to leave a mall that large open in a prominent area, they’re going to have to do a little more.”

She said her mother had a great day, emotionally, Saturday. Sunday has not been as good. “All she remembers are the gunshots,’’ she said. “She’ll tell you, ‘I remember the gunshots. I was knocked out. I remember nothing else.’’’

Butler said she’s dealing with not wanting to go out in public. The first time she got into her car Friday, she heard gunshots though she knew there were not any. “I was not expecting that. I’m a pretty strong person,’’ she said. “It’s going to be something I have to work through. I’ll get through it in time.”