A police officer has been branded as a hero after tackling a man armed with a rifle to the ground.
Sgt. Kendrick Simpo from Houston, Texas, was working as a security guard at Uptown District’s Galleria Mall when he received a report of a man armed with a rifle approaching hundreds of children who gathered at Macy’s for a dance competition.
According to the reports, the event took place on February 5 when Simpo was working a second job as a security officer.
Recalling his confrontation with the armed man, who was later identified as Guido Herrera, the cop revealed that he tackled the suspect to the ground and avoided pulling out his gun because he didn’t want to scare the children.
“I did know there was a dance competition with little kids going on at the Westin Ballroom, so I didn’t pull my weapon out because I didn’t want to be running towards the Macy’s area – which is past the ballroom area – with the gun,” he said in an interview with ABC 13.
Simpo went on to explain that Herrera was just feet away from the entrance of the venue where the children’s dance competition took place.
“I quickly bum rushed, tackled him. And my first reaction was to make sure that I get a hold of the rifle. No matter what I grabbed, make sure I grabbed that rifle,” he added.
“I had in my mind [that] I was going to get shot, I just had to bear the pain. I knew it was going to hurt and I was like, ‘Whatever I do, I cannot let go of this rifle.’”
The brave cop continued: “I knew if a person did have a rifle, and they were inside the mall, I was pretty much outnumbered because all I had was a handgun at the time. My handgun and his rifle, I was already at a disadvantage.”
Putting his life at risk, Simpo managed to overpower Herrera who was arrested without a single shot being fired after backup arrived at the scene.
While searching the suspect, the police allegedly found 120 rounds of ammunition and a handgun alongside a Bible with a bookmarked Old Testament passage.
Just a month after the incident, the same man was once again arrested after authorities found a gun in his car when he drove to the FBI headquarters and demanded to speak with the director.
Since Herrera did not actually point the rifle at anyone or fire any shots, he could only be charged with misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and unlawful carrying of a weapon. He was sentenced to one year in prison last week.
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