MCKINNEY, Texas — The mass shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets over the weekend forced many people to spring into action -- from first responders to the staff at the Collin County Medical Examiner's Office.
An office used to examining one homicide every two to three weeks had nine homicides in one day.
"We have to put our emotions aside and have to do our job," said Dr. Keng Su. Su joined as the chief medical examiner for the county three months ago.
Su told WFAA he was wrapping up an autopsy on Saturday when a field agent walked into his office and told him about the mass casualty event in Allen.
The nine bodies, which included the shooter, were taken from the mall and transported seven miles to the medical examiner's office in McKinney.
Collin County Commissioner Susan Fletcher and several others were also thrust into action to help family and friends of Aishwarya Thatikonda.
Thatikonda, an engineer from McKinney, was one of the eight victims of the shooting. Fletcher and other local city and Collin County employees helped expedite a complicated process to get her body back to her home country.
"You've got parents back in India who just want their daughter home. They want to bury their daughter," said Fletcher.
From the medical examination to death certificates to consulate approval for travel, that can take up to three days. With the help of multiple people, they did it in 12 hours.
"It was so important to me to do everything I could and implore everyone in my circle to do everything they could," Fletcher said. Fletcher also praised the efforts of county clerk Stacey Kemp who helped with the process.
Su told WFAA he cannot talk about specific cases but can say this job naturally comes with "emotional and mental suffering" for him and his staff.
"It is so hard to do my service to the shooter because you're angry, too. We are human beings. But it's not my job to judge," Su said.
Su commended his staff: the examiners, the field agents and the techs. He said everyone was working 12 to 14 hour days since Saturday.
Su said he tried to keep his mind off work by immersing himself in TV shows. He has three children of his own.
He said they ultimately feel sorry for the families of the victims and hope to do them justice with their work.
"It's very hard to see innocent children... they have so many injuries on the body. It's terrible," said Su.