By Rachel Blevins
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<p>&nbsp;Antioch, TN – The man who has been hailed as a hero for disarming a &nbsp;mass shooter after he gunned down four people at a Waffle House, is now &nbsp;raising money for the families of the victims, and his campaign has &nbsp;received nearly $100,000 in donations in the first 24 hours.&nbsp;</p>
<p>When a man entered the restaurant around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday and &nbsp;opened fire with an AR-15, James Shaw Jr. was the one rushed towards him &nbsp;and grabbed the rifle out of his hands while the gunman attempted to &nbsp;reload it.&nbsp;</p>
<p>He then threw the gun over the counter and pushed suspect &nbsp;Travis Reinking out the door. Shaw’s quick thinking arguably saved the lives of dozens of people, &nbsp;as it is unclear what Reinking planned to include in his rampage.&nbsp;</p>
<p>When &nbsp;asked about what made him decide to confront the shooter, he told &nbsp;reporters, “<em><strong>I figured if I was going to die, he was going to have to work for it</strong></em>.” Shaw is a 29-year-old father who works as an electrician in &nbsp;Nashville. He was taken to the hospital after one of the bullets fired &nbsp;by the gunman grazed his arm.&nbsp;</p>
<p>He <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/23/us/waffle-house-hero-james-shaw.html">told</a> &nbsp;the New York Times that while at the hospital, he was able to check on &nbsp;one of the victims and his 4-year-old daughter was the first thing on &nbsp;his mind when he met the victim’s father. <em>“We had a father moment when we saw each other,”</em> Shaw said. <em>“If you can imagine, actually, your child being there and meeting the person who saved their child, it was very touching.”</em> &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>While many have praised Shaw as the hero that he is for stopping the shooting, he has humbly downplayed his heroic actions. “<em>I’d rather you regard me as James, you know, just a regular person,” </em>he said. “<em>Because I feel like everybody can do pretty much what I did</em>.” Shaw said Reinking began shooting before he entered the restaurant, &nbsp;and after he walked in the door, he stopped to reload his gun.&nbsp;</p>
<p>That was &nbsp;when Shaw took the opportunity to rush towards Reinking, grab his gun, &nbsp;and push him back out the door while the gunman angrily cursed at him.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>“I acted in a blink of a second,” </em>Shaw said<em>. “When he &nbsp;reloaded his clip, that felt like 30 minutes. I looked at him, and he &nbsp;wasn’t looking at me. He just had the barrel down. It was like, ‘Do it &nbsp;now. Go now.’ I just took off.”</em>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Shaw’s efforts have not stopped at disarming a gunman in the midst of &nbsp;a mass shooting or comforting loved ones. He has also started a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/5g07bvs">GoFundMe page</a> for the families of the victims, and it <strong>raised nearly $100,000</strong> in the first 24 hours.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>“My name is James Shaw Jr. I am creating this page to help the &nbsp;families of the victims from the Shooting that took place at Waffle &nbsp;House in Antioch, TN,”</em>&nbsp;he wrote in the description. <em>“Please &nbsp;take the time to donate as all of the proceeds will be given to the &nbsp;families. Thank you again for your generosity and blessings!”</em> The victims in the shooting have been <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2018/04/22/waffle-house-shooting-police-release-names-victims-killed-nashville-attack/540341002/">identified</a> as: &nbsp;</p>
<ul>
  <li><strong>Taurean C. Sanderlin</strong>, 29, a Waffle House employee of five years from Goodlettsville, Tennessee</li>
  <li><strong>Joe R. Perez</strong>, 20, a patron and Nashville resident</li>
  <li><strong>Akilah Dasilva</strong>, 23, a resident of Antioch who was at the Waffle House with his girlfriend and brother</li>
  <li><strong>DeEbony Groves</strong>, 21, a senior at Belmont University Nashville who was majoring in social work.</li>
</ul>
<p>As The Free Thought Project has <a href="https://thefreethoughtproject.com/5-fast-facts-you-need-to-know-about-the-tennessee-waffle-house-shooting/">reported</a>, &nbsp;suspected gunman Travis Reinking was finally caught by police on Monday &nbsp;after more than 24 hours on the run. His record consists of a number of &nbsp;encounters with police, which included an interview with the FBI last &nbsp;year. Reinking was arrested by Secret Service agents when he was caught &nbsp;entering a restricted area of the White House during a trip to &nbsp;Washington D.C. in July 2017.&nbsp;</p>
<p>While officials claimed there was no &nbsp;evidence at the time to show that he posed a danger to himself or &nbsp;others, and the misdemeanor charge of “unlawful entry” was dismissed &nbsp;after he completed community service, the incident led to an &nbsp;investigation by the FBI.&nbsp;</p>
<p>After conducting an interview with Reinking, the FBI&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-waffle-house-shooting-nashville-20180422-story.html">ordered</a>&nbsp;police &nbsp;to confiscate his guns and his firearms licenses were revoked. The &nbsp;local sheriff acknowledged that Reinking clearly suffers from mental &nbsp;health issues, and police let his father take possession of the guns as &nbsp;long as he promised to “<em>keep the weapons secure and out of the possession of Travis.</em>”&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;It appears that Reinking once again gained access to an AR-15, which is &nbsp;the weapon he reportedly used in the shooting at the Waffle House. While James Shaw Jr. has attempted to play off his heroic actions as &nbsp;something any citizen would do, the fact is that it is not every day a &nbsp;person is grazed by a bullet and still musters up the bravery to &nbsp;confront and disarm the shooter. Shaw is a hero and his actions have set &nbsp;an incredible example.</p>
<p>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gofundme.com/5g07bvs">Click here</a> to donate to the GoFundMe page for the families of the victims in the shooting.&nbsp;</p>
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