lives, including two children. the twister unleashed winds between 130 and 150 miles per hour. the national weather service says the tornado was at least a half mile wide. >> the minute it dropped and the array of debris that was in the air and it's wide, you know, i knew it was going to be really bad. >> you could hear people screaming. >> reporter: cotton has chased tornados for more than three years, but what he witnessed and saw last night was too much. >> kids crying, someone getting out of the car saying my kid's hurt. >> reporter: is it the voices you heard that make you not want to do it anymore? >> yeah. yeah. oh, yeah. >> reporter: he's done chasing storms, and he says this little boy is the reason why. >> nothing really can prepare you for what we saw last night, you know. >> reporter: and why are you retiring, for lack of a better word, from storm chasing? >> i've got a 2-year-old son and