They were in the store when it happened, hiding under a shelf of dolls, lying on the floor, or just frozen in shock as they heard the shots at the Toys R Us store in Palm Desert on Friday morning.

Here's what witnesses told Desert Sun reporters at the scene:

Hiding under a shelf of dolls

Nicole Justice, 38, of Temecula said she was shopping with her 4-month-old daughter when she heard a woman cussing.

“I was shopping, and I heard a lady start to cuss, and that's what alarmed me,” she said.

She said she heard at least six shots near the electronics, and then heard someone say: “‘He's got a gun.' It was clear as day.”

That's when she grabbed her baby and they hid under shelf of dolls. She fed the baby to keep her quiet.

“I was trying not to become a hostage, and trying not to get shot,” she said.

Hitting the floor

Sherry Mudry, 37, of Palm Desert said she was checking out at the register when she heard two girls arguing.

One of the girls was screaming, “He's got a gun. He's got a friggin' gun.”

Customers dropped to the floor as the shots were fired, she said. Mudry said she kept down, trying to pretend she was dead.

“The gunshots were going over my head,” she said. “I could feel the wind from them.”

Son clinging to mom's leg

Sarah Pacia of Cathedral City said she was in the store with her two boys, ages 4 and 6, looking at coloring books when she heard a commotion in the next aisle.

She thought it was people rushing to get a sale item. Then she heard three or four shots.

She said she froze, and store employees calmly escorted her out of the store.

“This is Toys R Us. There are kids shopping in there,” Pacia said. Her son Jayden, 4, was clinging to her leg. He told her he didn't want to die, she said.

‘Tell my boys I love them'

Dan Watson said he got a call from his 33-year-old wife, Andrea, at 11:19 a.m. She said there was a lot of gunfire, and he replied, “I can hear it, pop, pop, pop.”

“I told to her turn off her ringer and hide,” Watson said.

He said the wife said, “Someone's in the store shooting.”

He last heard from her at 12:05 p.m. He said she's doing fine.

“I'm doing better now,” he said, his eyes red at the scene. “But when I was driving here, it broke my heart, because she said, ‘Just tell my boys I love them.'”

Her sons, 3 and 7, were with dad.

Daughter's first day at work

Scott Bertz had just gotten off of work in the morning (he works at Waste Management) and turned on the TV when he got home and saw the news about the Toys R Us shooting. He came right over when it happened.

It was his daughter's first day of work at the store. Brisa Bertz is a College of the Desert student who was working as a clerk over the holidays to save some money.

“It's crazy,” Scott Bertz said. “I don't know why someone would do this,” he said, tears streaming down his face. “What could make somebody so mad?”

A ‘quick' shopping trip

Best friends Sara Frahm, 25, of La Quinta and April Aguilar, 24, of Indio stopped by Toys R Us early Friday morning for a 10-minute trip to buy toys for Frahm's 3-year-old. The child was not with the women.

The two said they were in the electronics section when they heard two girls screaming at each other and then started fighting.

All of a sudden, they said they heard someone yell, “He's got a gun.” A man with a handgun was standing next to the girls. “He had it and he was flailing it,” Frahm said.

They said they heard six or seven shots.

“People were running and ducking and dropping toys,” Frahm said.

Aguilar grabbed Frahm and they darted for the door.

As Frahm was running out of the building, she thought to herself, “I don't want to lose my life. I have a 3-year old.”

“This is horrible,” said Frahm. “I'm just in a lot of shock.”