A Northern Michigan man is being hailed as a hero after he used a gun to direct a knife-wielding attacker to stand down on Saturday.
The suspect has been identified as Bradford Gille.
Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office said Gille began randomly attacking people in the Garfield Township Wal-Mart late Saturday afternoon.
11 people were hurt. All are expected to survive.
Gille has been charged with one count of terrorism and 11 counts of attempted murder.
The sheriff’s office said thanks to the help of a group of bystanders, the attack was stopped before more people were hurt.
One of those people is Derrick Perry. Perry is said to have aimed his concealed gun at the attacker, forcing him to drop the knife without ever firing a shot.
Perry became an online sensation but has mostly stayed out of the limelight since taking action on Saturday until now.
Derrick Perry lives in the Traverse City area. He’s a husband, father to 6, and grandfather to 5 grandkids. He also spent time as a Marine, but he said it’s not his training as a Marine that led him to get involved in stopping Gille; he said it was a higher power.
“God just took a hold of me and walked me through that front door, back out to that situation, because I was just a vessel that day,” said Perry.
He said he was just doing some shopping when things turned chaotic very quickly.
“That’s when I heard someone screaming. He’s got a knife. He’s stabbing people. So, I set my basket down, and I just started walking towards where all I could hear all the yelling and screaming, and I could see it’s, like, in slow motion. Everyone is clamoring, the mom is being pulled in one direction and she’s screaming for her child. I turn the corner, I can see one of the downed stabbed victims up by the front door. And then as I get out, I can see groceries and people running in different directions,” said Perry.
He said he noticed two men chasing Gille, and that’s when he jumped in to help, pointing his pistol at him, shouting for him to drop the knife.
“They were kind of chasing him, so I figured I’d come around the back side, from the direction that they were trying to come from. And that’s when I drew my pistol and approached him. Everything was just so surreal because as I looked over my pistol and looking at his eyes, I can see that he didn’t seem like he was aware of all the things that were happening. He was just very wild-eyed and just not there,” said Perry.
Gille did finally throw the knife down and that’s when they rushed Gille. He said he wasn’t scared, but the experience weighs on him.
“It made me realize that the ownership of having a firearm extends far beyond, going out and shooting with it. If you pull it out, you have to. There are only 1 or 2 situations, either to practice with it or you aim to take a life. I was very close to doing so,” said Perry.
He said he had to turn everything off around him and ignore people yelling at him to shoot Gille and focus on doing the right thing.
“Any other person probably would have listened and just suffered the consequences of it. But when the man was clearly unarmed at that point, and people were still at their worst. I understand their frustration and their anger. They were there wanting to harm him. But that’s not our job to do,” said Perry.
Since then, Perry said he’s been overwhelmed with the attention he’s been getting online, which is hard because he keeps a low profile.
“There’s been a huge outpouring of love and thanks for being there and saying, ‘That’s the type of person that I am.’ But I didn’t see it as such. But I have a huge work family, so they’re very proud of me,” he said.
He said he hopes the victims get justice.
“I didn’t have any fear. I wasn’t fearful of myself. My main concern was making sure that he was taken down. I was worried about the people around me. I just hope that he gets the help that he needs, but he’s punished to the fullest extent of the law,” said Perry.
Perry also said he’s aware of the fake profiles and GoFundMe’s that have been online, and he’s disgusted by them.
He said he and his family have started a couple of different GoFundMes for the victims, to help with medical bills, but those can be found on the joint page he shares with his wife.