← Previous Post: | Next Post:

 

American Hero.

Richard M. Fierro said he was at a table in Club Q with his wife, daughter and friends on Saturday, watching a drag show, when the sudden flash of gunfire ripped across the nightclub. His instincts from four combat deployments as an Army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan instantly kicked in. Fight back, he told himself.

In an interview at his house, where his wife and daughter were still recovering from injuries, Mr. Fierro, 45, who left the Army in 2013 as a major, according to military records, described charging through the chaos at the club, tackling the gunman and beating him bloody with the gunman’s own gun…

[H]e raced across the room, grabbed the gunman by a handle on the back of his body armor, pulled him to the floor and jumped on top of him…

The gunman, who Mr. Fierro estimated weighed more than 300 pounds, sprawled onto the floor, his military-style rifle landing just out of reach. Mr. Fierro started to go for the rifle, but then saw that the gunman had a pistol as well.

“I grabbed the gun out of his hand and just started hitting him in the head, over and over,” Mr. Fierro said…

As the fight continued, he said, he yelled for other club patrons to help him. A man grabbed the rifle and moved it away to safety. A drag dancer stomped on the gunman with her high heels. The whole time, Mr. Fierro said, he kept pummeling the shooter’s head while the two men screamed obscenities at each other.

When police arrived a few minutes later, the gunman was no longer struggling, Mr. Fierro said, and he feared that he had killed him…

Margaret Soltan, November 21, 2022 7:00PM
Posted in: heroes

Trackback URL for this post:
https://www.margaretsoltan.com/wp-trackback.php?p=71499

2 Responses to “American Hero.”

  1. Matt McKeon Says:

    Fuck ya. Army strong.

    So here’s a retired officer, with his family, enjoying a drag show, like one does. He should get another medal.

  2. Margaret Soltan Says:

    Matt: I think he will get another medal. I suspect also a standing ovation at the next State of the Union might be in the cards.

Comment on this Entry

Latest UD posts at IHE

Archives

Categories