Texas church shooting hero Stephen Willeford will be attending this year’s State of the Union address as a guest of Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas).
Breitbart News reported that Willeford, who lives near First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, learned of the shooting as it was happening. He opened his safe, grabbed his AR-15 and a handful of bullets and ran toward the church to intervene. In the urgency of the moment he did not even stop to put on shoes.
Upon reaching the church Willeford shot the attacker twice, causing him to flee the scene. Willeford then climbed into a pickup truck driven by Johnnie Langendorff and the two chased the attacker until he wrecked his vehicle and died, reportedly committing suicide.
Willeford can be seen on body cam video explaining what happened after police arrived on scene:
One day after stopping the church attack Willeford told KBHS, “I was scared, like you can’t even imagine, I was scared. But I knew something had to happen.” He added, “I think my God, my Lord protected me and gave me the skills to do what needed to be done. And I just wish I could have gotten there faster but I didn’t know. I didn’t know what was happening.”
The Hill reported Rep. Cuellar’s praise of Willeford, saying, “It is amazing that this man, who almost became a victim himself, managed to face the assailant and ultimately prevented further tragedy from unfolding.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.