Just a good story. This good guy didn’t even have a gun. He has a story of his own. On Thanksgiving Eve, I’m grateful for guys like him.
Jess Fierro and her husband, Richard Fierro, went to Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colo., Saturday night to celebrate a friend’s birthday with dancing and a drag show…
Their group, which included the couple’s daughter, Kassy Fierro, and her boyfriend, Raymond Green Vance, watched a performance by the younger Ms. Fierro’s best friend and were on the dance floor when shots rang out, according to Jess Fierro…
According to officials, alleged gunman Anderson Lee Aldrich entered Club Q wearing body armor and opened fire using an AR-15-style rifle. Ms. Fierro said he was also carrying a pistol.
Eventually, the shooter turned away from the dance floor to head toward the patio, said Ms. Fierro. Her 45-year-old husband, a U.S. Army veteran, then jumped on the shooter’s back and knocked him to the floor, she said.
“I wasn’t thinking. I just ran over there, got him,” he said, recalling the thoughts that were pounding in his head: “I got to get this guy. He’s going to kill my kid. He’s going to kill my wife.”
Fierro recounted how he and a fellow club attendee were able to overpower the shooter and separate the man from his weapon.
“I grabbed him by the back of his little, cheap-■■■ armor thing and pulled him down,” he said. “I said, ‘Move the AR, get the AR away from him,’ and the kid did it.”
“Everyone in that room, everyone in that building, is going to have to live with that now,” said Fierro, who served three combat tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. “They got to live with this until they’re able to deal with it. I feel for every person in that room. I feel no joy. I’m not happy. I’m not excited. I’m not a hero.”
“I don’t want to ever do this,” Fierro said of using his combat skills. “I was done doing this stuff, it was too much,” he said. “It lives in you. If you actually do this stuff, it’s in you … I’m not a GI Joe, I’m just a normal guy.”
Mr. Fierro was trying to get better at going out. In Iraq and Afghanistan he’d been shot at, seen roadside bombs shred trucks in his platoon, and lost friends. He was twice awarded the Bronze Star.
The wars were both past and still present. There were things he would never forget. For a long time after coming home, crowds put him on edge. He couldn’t help to be vigilant. In restaurants he sat against the wall, facing the door. No matter how much he tried to relax, part of him was always ready for an attack, like an itch that could not be scratched.
He certainly was ready on Saturday.