Armed hero praised for confronting Michigan Walmart mass stabbing suspect in dramatic showdown
In wild cellphone footage shared on X, the brave man is seen yelling at the suspected attacker to drop the weapon in the parking lot of the superstore in Traverse City, about 255 miles northwest of Detroit.
The unidentified armed shopper is being praised for his actions.
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'Give this man the recognition his actions deserve,' one commenter said. 'Good men who are armed save lives.'
In the harrowing video, the good Samaritan shouts down the attack while brandishing a small handgun.
'Drop it! Throw the knife now. Throw it away!' the stand-your-ground hero says.
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Several other men standing alongside him, one pushing a Walmart shopping cart, helped to force back the attacker.
3 Dramatic video shows a heroic Walmart shopper (R) confront a suspected maniac with a knife (L) outside a Michigan store.
X/ImMeme0
The camera then pans to the Walmart entrance, where one of the victims of the stabbing attack is seen lying on the ground.
The other brave customers surround the attacker and order him to lay on the ground before the video ends.
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3 11 people were wounded in the stabbing at the Traverse City store on Saturday evening.
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On Sunday, authorities identified the suspect as Bradford James Gille, 42.
He faces charges of terrorism and 11 counts of assault with intent to murder following the shocking stabbing spree in Traverse City — a popular Michigan tourist destination.
His victims range in age from 29 to 85, with six of them over 60, Shea said. They are all expected to survive.
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Grand Traverse County Sheriff Michael Shea revealed that Gille has a history of arrests for drug offenses and vandalism.
The horror began at the store just before 5 p.m. on Saturday after the man went on a stabbing spree, attacking shoppers at random.
Six were left in a critical condition and five in a serious condition, but by Sunday, just four were in a serious condition and seven in a fair condition, according to a statement from the Munson Medical Center shared by Click On Detroit.
A witness was shopping in Walmart with her fiance when the attack happened and said customers chased the attacker out of the store and held him in the parking lot until first responders arrived.
3 The man with the gun and several other customers held the suspect in the Walmart parking lot until emergency services arrived.
X/ImMeme0
'It was just very panicky, very scary. I've never witnessed anything like that, and I've lived in Traverse City my whole life,' Angela Helfrich told Click On Detroit.
'I was way too close. That could have been me or my family, and I feel awful for all the victims and their families.'
Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who lives in Traverse City, said he and his husband Chasten were 'shaken by the awful and senseless violence' at Walmart on Saturday.
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