Good Samaritan trying to stop gunman shot dead at Arlington Walgreens
ARLINGTON, Texas - Police say a Good Samaritan was shot and killed outside an Arlington Walgreens trying to protect a woman who had just been shot by her husband.
Police said the shooter, Ricci Bradden, a soldier form Fort Hood, came into the store at the corner of New York Avenue and Green Oaks Boulevard just before noon on Monday to confront his wife.
Arlington Police say Bradden pulled out a gun and fired a shot into the ground and then fired another shot into his wife’s ankle.
As she ran back inside the store, Bradden ran to his car. That's when Good Samaritan T.J. Antell, who had just witnessed the shooting, ran to his car and got his gun.
Police say when Antell told Bradden to get out of his car, Bradden quickly got out and fatally shot Antell.
Family and friends gathered at the Crossfit Gym in Arlington where the 35-year-old husband and father of three worked.
"He went into a protective mode,” said Antell’s pastor, Marc Lowrance. “He's a father. He is protective by nature. He thought he could help everyone involved and tragically it went a different way."
Police say Bradden then started driving toward Fort Hood.
The arrest warrant affidavit stated Bradden "called some of his supervising officers in the military and confessed to the shooting.”
Then, Bradden called his father who told him to stop and wait for him.
"A family member met with the suspect and took him to a Texas Highway Patrol DPS office in Hill County,” explained Arlington Police Chief Christopher Cook.
According to the affidavit, Bradden told military supervisors he “slapped the gun out of the male's hand and then he shot the male.”
Friends tell say Antell served some time in the U.S. Marine Corps.