A mom documented the 'scariest moment of my life' when she heard a gunshot at a Florida mall with her 4-year-old daughter

• A TikTok video documenting a woman's response to a gunshot at a mall has gone viral.
• The TikToker told Insider she was on a ride with her daughter when she heard a loud "boom."

A reality TV star documented the direct aftermath of witnessing a gunshot incident with her young daughter in a TikTok that has gone mega-viral as viewers praised her response.

32-year-old Cher Gopman, who goes by the TikTok username @cherhubsher, stars in "sMothered," a TLC reality TV series about mother-daughter duos.

On August 5, she was on a carousel ride with her 4-year-old daughter at Brandon Mall, in Tampa, Florida, when they heard a loud "boom" sound.

Local police believe that a firearm accidentally went off inside a woman's purse and struck the side of the countertop when she leaned over a counter to pick up food, according to a news release by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, which stated that there had been no reported injuries.

A viral TikTok video posted by a user who goes by @albac2.0 captured the moment Gopman tried to get her daughter off the ride after what appeared to be the sound of the gunshot.

Gopman told Insider that she saw the video because people kept tagging her in it asking if it was her. She said it was "extremely hard" for her to watch.

"It made me very emotional seeing it," she said. "But I think it allowed other people to see what we actually went through and the fear and the reaction."

Gopman went on to post her own video on the day of the incident, describing it as the "scariest moment of my life."

She panned the camera to her bare feet and told viewers that she'd had to throw down her shoes and purse so she could get her daughter to safety more quickly.

"I don't know if it's a shooting or a balloon pop or what it was, but there are helicopters and cops here and I have no purse," she told viewers.

Meanwhile, Gopman's daughter, who was standing beside her while she cried, smiled and said, "In the mall there was just a balloon pop, but now she's upset."

Gopman told Insider that she recorded the TikTok video while she was waiting to be evacuated in the parking lot. She said that she and her husband told her daughter that the gunshot was a balloon pop because they didn't want her to be afraid.

Her video has been viewed over 9 million times and Gopman said that she has been flooded with "love and kindness" from viewers.

Many praised Gopman for her actions and validated her feelings that the incident was traumatizing. Other viewers shared their own experiences of being involved in gunshot incidents. Several people criticized the US's current gun laws and called for stricter controls.

Gopman told Insider that some of the people who were at Brandon Mall that day had reached out to her saying they had seen her crying outside the mall and that they were glad she was OK. Others told her that they had "felt silly" having such an emotional reaction when they heard it was an accidental discharge, but that they felt less alone seeing her video.

Gopman told Insider that she posted the video because she wanted to share her experience to let others know that this is a "real thing that's happening," and to help others who went through the same thing to feel less alone.

"I've gotten a lot of people who unfortunately have had similar situations or been involved in shootings sharing their stories with me and telling me how they've worked to overcome that," said Gopman. "Even though this was an accident, this accident has changed so many people's lives."

Gopman said that her daughter now refuses to go on carousel rides because she is too scared.

"Whether it was an active shooter or not, that same reaction happened. That same fear happened," said Gopman. "It was very scary."