President Donald Trump on Monday telephoned James Shaw, Jr. and thanked him for stepping in during a deadly shooting at a Waffle House in Antioch, Tennessee.
Shaw has been hailed a hero for wrestling an AR-15 way from a gunman, saving countless lives. The gunman killed four people and wounded two in the April 25 shooting before fleeing, prompting a frantic manhunt until he was captured the next day.
Shaw, who was a customer in the restaurant when the shooter came in, pounced when the gunman went to reload. He charged the shooter and the two wrestled over the gun until Shaw took it away and threw it behind the counter. The gunman then fled.
“This morning, the President had a call with James Shaw Jr. to commend his heroic actions and quick thinking last month at a Waffle House in Tennessee. Mr. Shaw saved lives when he wrestled a gun from an active shooter who had opened fire,” Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said Monday.
Shaw told CNN after the shooting that he knew he’d only have one chance. “I was like ‘I have to go now because if I don’t go now then I’m not going to have have another window of opportunity,'” he said.
As heroes do, Shaw insists he’s not a hero.
“After that I became totally relaxed, I was looking through my eyes and I heard a voice that said, ‘do it now,’” Shaw recounted on “The Steve Harvey Show.”
“We wrestled for the gun, and I said to myself, ‘if he kills me, he’s going to have to work for this kill.'”
Sounds like a hero to us.