GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY — A West Michigan man is recounting how he helped keep stabbing suspect, Bradford Gille, from leaving the scene after that terrifying stabbing that injured 11 at Walmart over the weekend, armed only with a shopping cart.
Matt Kolakowski is from Grand Rapids but was in Northern Michigan to enjoy the day with his family on Torch Lake.
He said they stopped at Walmart to get supplies and as they were checking out a chaotic scene unfolded in front of them.
“ I’ve never seen this much blood and this many victims in one spot. I’ve been to Iraq and stuff, but this was, it was like, you know, shooting goldfish in a barrel or something,” said Kolakowski.
Kolakowski is a Marine veteran who spent time in Iraq and he said he’s never seen so much blood. He said he thought he was going to get hurt but his background as a Marine and as a former corrections officer, he has the training to try to stop the guy from killing or hurting anyone else.
Still, he says still trying to process what happened and scenes from that day plays over and over again in his mind.
He said it started as they were talking to a cashier at check-out.
“He just started yelling, he’s got a knife, he’s got a knife! And then he turned around and was like, get out of there!,” said Kolakowski.
He said shortly after hearing that employee give out that warning, he heard blood-curdling screams coming from the back of the store.
Kolakowski said that’s when he saw Gille right before he left the building, even locking eyes briefly.
“I could see the knife. And so I yelled at my kids, stay here. And I just took off after him. And as I took off after I seen him stab another man in the shoulder as he was leaving through the entryway of the double door areas where they stocked the carts, I thought to myself, I don’t got a weapon,” said Kolakowski.
He said he feared for his safety but grabbed a grocery cart and gave chase.
“As I was coming up behind him, there was an elderly lady on his left, and he just stabbed her right in the back. Right in front of me. He then, after he stabbed her, he took off a little bit, but then he turned around like he was coming back at her again. And that was when you see me coming to the grocery cart and he went to turn around again. So I slammed it against his ankles, and then he fell down, but then got back up,” said Kolakowski.
He said he tried to hit Gille again, but Gille hid behind a light pole, making it hard to get to him. He said another man tried to hit Gille with a cart, before another man with a pistol, Derrick Perry, jumped into the fray. After yelling commands to drop the knife, Gille finally complied.
“And that’s when I grabbed it. At that point, once I got the knife, he tried to take off backwards running. And that’s in this part of the video, you can see me coming around the back side of him. And Derrick still had the gun drawn on him, and we finally got him down and I jumped on top of him. And I held him there.
He said once officers arrived, he and the other citizens also helped give aid to the injured victims.
“One of the guys that we assisted, the officer was putting the tourniquet on him and then I walked over to the lady that was stabbed and was trying to assist them with her back,” said Gille.
Kolakowski said since then, he’s had a lot of attention and many messages calling him a hero, but it hasn’t quite sunk in yet.
“I expected to get stabbed, to be honest with you or be injured. But that was nothing compared to the people inside because they were getting attacked and stabbed by a man coming from behind them, where they didn’t even have a chance to defend themselves.
He says he’s grateful the man with the gun, Derrick, was there.
He tried to get away from us. And that’s when Derrick or Mr. Perry came in on the left with his pistol. And that just brought everything to a good standstill to stop him right in there. And if it wasn’t for Derrick having that gun, a lot more people might have been injured,” said Kolakowski.
Kolakowski said he hopes to connect with Derrick in the future. They discovered after the fact that they have something else in common besides this incident, they are both Marines.
He also said that after the craziness of that day, he still took his family to Torch Lake. He didn’t want this situation to take anything more away from his family.