17th between H and I Street, NW
“Dear PoPville,
Around 2pm Wed., Nov 26, I was finishing lunch at the Farragut West LebTav when I heard shots and saw people running. The other customers and staff dropped to the ground and crawled behind the cashier counter. I found a small closet to hide in, but soon realized it may not be the best place to hide since I couldn’t lock the door. Outside, I heard the staff leading customers further back into the kitchen. I exited the closet and followed. LebTav staff led us to a back stairwell where we discussed whether to leave through a back exit or go upstairs to hide. We waited in the stairwell for a few minutes, with children and adults crying and hyperventilating from fear and shock amid the uncertainty of what was happening and whether we were even safe.
The LebTav staff acted as a kind of buffer between what was happening across the street and our hide out. Eventually,
one of the staff members informed us that the coast was clear, but that there were bodies on the sidewalk. A few of us went into the dining area to collect our things while another adult stayed with the children in the stairwell to spare them from further trauma. Uncertain if it was safe to use the metro, I biked home. Entering my apartment, I found my husband and hugged him tightly, feeling so fortunate to be alive and unharmed, knowing that there are national guard members and others involved who could not say the same.
In addition to the military, law enforcement, emergency, and medical personnel that responded to this horrific attack, I would like to thank the LebTav staff for their heroism, protection, quick action, and calm heads during this crisis.”