Across the street from the complex, which remains closed, mourners continued to leave flowers on Monday, with the pile growing to the point that it spanned multiple storefronts. Many of the visitors were groups of women, including a mother and daughter holding hands, friends wiping each other's tears, and a woman holding her baby girl a little tighter.
Arabanopoulos and her daughter Alexia Costa were among those who left flowers. They had returned to retrieve the car, which had been inaccessible inside the locked-down shopping mall since Saturday.
Ms Arabanopoulos, 55, said she felt particularly guilty about Saturday's near-risk because she had encouraged the couple to come shopping that afternoon to pick out a dress for her daughter's upcoming 21st birthday. He said he felt it. As a woman working in the male-dominated construction industry, she said she has raised her daughters to never back down and always stand up for themselves.
“They think women won't fight back,” she says.
She said she believed the gunman was targeting women and shuddered to think what would have happened if the young female store managers had not acted quickly and pulled down the shutters.
“It was a store full of women, and the managers were heroes to us,” she said.
Simone Scoppa, 42, who also visited the memorial on Monday, said the stabbing was the latest attack on a woman, even in the suburbs, where she was seen looking over her shoulder while walking her dog at night and was given keys. He said that he was being offered a gift. Her hands act as defensive weapons just in case.
The fact that shopping malls were the scene of attacks also made women feel vulnerable, she said.
“Where do most women go on a Saturday afternoon?” Ms. Scoppa said. “I see the dad and her husband sitting on the lounger taking care of the luggage and the mom breastfeeding.”
Yang Chuan Contributed to the report.