Paul Contreras is being praised for his courageous actions, as he recounted the moment he sprung into action in an interview with Omaha's ABC affiliate, KETV. "One guy was just hollering: 'Catch him, tackle him,' whatever," Contreras said. "I didn't think about it. It's just a reaction. I didn't hesitate, I just did it."
Describing the encounter, Contreras explained how he approached the gunman from behind, successfully knocking him down to the ground. "He got close to me, I got the right angle on him, and I hit him from behind. And when I hit him from behind, I either jarred the gun out of his hand or out of his sleeve because as I'm taking him down to the ground, I saw the gun on the ground," he recounted to CNN.
Contreras, along with another fan, managed to pin down the assailant despite his resistance. "We were fighting each other. He wants to get up while I'm holding him down. Then another guy helps me and then, you know, it just seemed like a long time but it's probably like 15 or 30 seconds," Contreras said. "He's just fighting to get up. But we're fighting to keep him down. We didn't want to let him up and take off running because he had one gun. Maybe he had another in that big bulky jacket."
Reflecting on the incident, Contreras shared that he was left in a state of shock afterward, and he and his three daughters sat at the scene before eventually heading home.
