Rob Fox was at the Eaton Centre when he heard gunshots ring out on Monday at the Raptors rally in Toronto. Shortly after, he says, a mass of people started running inside for safety.

“There was mass panic. Everyone was screaming and yelling and running around,” he said.

Gunfire erupted at Bay and Queen streets, near the southeast corner of Nathan Phillips Square, at approximately 3:45 p.m. as millions were attending the Toronto Raptors Championship parade.

With the rush of people, Fox said he was knocked to the ground, but when he looked beside him, he saw a mother and two children screaming for help.

“There was this lady and she had two little girls and she was screaming and panicking, saying ‘help, please, there are kids here, stop,’” he said.

The father of three then jumped into action, grabbing the mother and children and bringing them to safety in a quiet area in the mall. That, he said, was when the mother told him there were six other children from whom they had been separated.

“I asked her, ‘are you okay?’ and she said ‘no, I’m missing six kids.’ Naturally I panicked and I didn’t know what to do, but I needed to find these kids,” Fox said.

“Basically, what I did, I just looked for any child that looked out of place, figuring it was one of those four and luckily we were able to find them all.”

Once everyone was reunited, Fox said his goodbyes and went on his way, and that night while meeting up with his cousin, he explained what happened.

“My jaw dropped because it was an unbelievable story,” Brendan Fox said.

“When you’re in crisis you can forget how to think, but to be able to hear that one person was able to think and choose love over fear and take total strangers and treat them like they mattered more than anything else in the world, I was inspired.”

His cousin decided to post the story on social media and overnight, it went viral, receiving more than 40,000 shares on Facebook.

“I was overwhelmed,” Fox said.

“I don’t think of myself as anyone special. I just treat people the way I like to be treated,” he added, “and that’s just what I believe in.”

Fox is one example of many acts of kindness that happened following Monday’s shooting and on social media, people can be seen posting thanks to strangers who helped.

Fox said he was happy to see people helping each other during the chaos on Monday.

“One senseless act wasn’t going to drag us down,” he said, adding he has since reconnected with the family who has expressed their gratitude.

— With files from Jessica Patton and Catherine McDonald

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