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The 29-year-old’s actions are credited with saving numerous lives after the suspect, clothed in only a green jacket, opened fire with an AR-15 rifle at 3:25 a.m. at the Antioch Waffle House on Murfreesboro Pike.
Shaw Jr. rushed the gunman, grabbed the gun’s barrel, pulled it away and threw it over the Waffle House counter. He suffered a gunshot wound and burns from grabbing the gun’s barrel.
Shaw Jr. said he doesn’t feel like a hero.
He was only trying to stay alive.
“It feels selfish,” Shaw Jr. “I was just trying to get myself out. I saw the opportunity and pretty much took it.”
Friends, families and the community disagree.
“He is a hero in my books,” said Brennan McMurry, 28, a longtime friend of Shaw’s who was with him at the Waffle House.
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Shaw Jr. found himself at the Murfreesboro Pike Waffle House after leaving a packed nearby Bell Road Waffle House. He and McMurry walked into the Murfreesboro Pike Waffle House at about 3:20 a.m.
Chaos broke out just minutes later.
Police say Travis Reinking, 29, opened fire at about 3:25 a.m. Shaw Jr. believed the noise came from one of the employees dropping dishes. He couldn’t recall how many shots there were, just that a man was on the floor.
Shaw Jr. said he jumped toward the bathroom and the suspect shot in that direction. He said he was grazed by a bullet.
“I remember I was like ‘Dang, I’m basically in a barrel,’ ” Shaw Jr. said. “There is no place for me to go.”
As the suspect came through the door, he needed to reload, Shaw Jr. said. That’s when he said he rushed him.
“I distinctively remember thinking that he is going to have to work for this kill,” Shaw Jr. said. “I had a chance to stop him and thankfully I stopped him.”
He added: “I grabbed the gun and kept it down. He had one hand on it. I pulled it away and threw it over the bar.”
He pushed the gunman out the door after a brief tussle. The man, naked from the waist down, walked away, Shaw Jr. said. He didn’t follow the shooter, fearing he had another gun.
Police continued to search for Reinking on Sunday evening and issued homicide warrants for the four victims.
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- Discussion
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Police spokesman Don Aaron told reporters Sunday morning that the Waffle House hero rushed the suspected shooter, disarmed him and threw the assault rifle he was carrying over the Waffle House counter. https://t.co/LPUNVIitxR
— SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) April 22, 2018
"I'm not a hero" says the man that wrestled weapon from Waffle House shooter #tictocnews pic.twitter.com/x5OeeO1GaA
— TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) April 22, 2018
Agree to disagree. https://t.co/YCzgFF8E7l
— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) April 23, 2018
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