James Shaw Jr., the man hailed as a hero for his actions during Sunday morning’s shooting at a Nashville-area Waffle House, has launched a GoFundMe page to help the victims of the shooting. The fund has more than doubled its goal in less than 25 hours.
The 29-year-old Shaw launched the fund just hours after the shooting, where four people were killed. He set a $15,000 goal, but eclipsed that in less than 20 hours. As of Monday afternoon, 950 people have donated a combined $34,411. The top donor was Ole South Homes construction, which donated $1,000.
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On Sunday morning, Shaw told The Tennessean he saw an opportunity to tackle the suspect, 29-year-old Travis Reinking, during the shooting and took it. He tackled Reinking and took his weapon away. The suspect then fled on foot and evaded capture until Monday afternoon.
Shaw, who was grazed by a bullet during the shooting, says he took the chance out of a need to survive.
“I don’t really know, when everyone said that (I was a hero), it feels selfish,” Shaw told The Tennessean. “I was just trying to get myself out. I saw the opportunity and pretty much took it.”
“I don’t know if it has hit me yet as far as witnessing other people dying,” Shaw said. “It’s kind of, it shouldn’t have happened. When I was in the ambulance to hospital I kept thinking that I’m going to wake up and it’s not going to be real. It is something out a movie. I’m OK though, but I hate that it happened.”
Shaw said he did not want to be seen as a hero.
“I did that completely out of a selfish act. I was completely doing it just to save myself,” Shaw said, reports CNN. “I don’t want people to think that I was the Terminator or Superman or anybody like that.”
Shaw was treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and released.
Reinking evaded capture for almost 36 hours before Nashville Police captured him Monday. Police released photos of him from inside the back of a police car, showing him wearing a torn shirt and jeans.
Reinking first shot at people outside the Waffle House in Antioch, a neighborhood of Nashville, before he went inside at around 3:25 a.m. Sunday. He reportedly used an AR-15 rifle in the shooting and was only wearing a coat.
The victims of the shooting were identified as 29-year-old Taurea C. Sanderlin, 20-year-old Joe R. Perez, 23-year-old Akilah Dasilva and 21-year-old DeEbony Groves.
