Unspeakable tragedy struck the Chiefs’ Super Bowl Parade in Kansas City on the afternoon of Wednesday, February 14, with at least one gunman opening fire (three individuals were arrested in connection with the shooting, Kansas City police said), killing one and wounding twenty-one. But when that happened, some spectators didn’t flee. Rather, they rushed into action and tackled a suspect, detaining him until the police dog-piled on and dealt with the situation.

One of those individuals was Paul Contreras. He, from Bellevue, Nebraska, helped tackle the suspect and was later interviewed by local media about what happened during the incident and why he rushed into action as he did. Explaining why he did it, Mr. Contreras said that he didn’t even think and instead just acted, doing what he thought was right.

Beginning, he commented on how the situation seemed to come out of nowhere, with the suspect running by as another spectator called on him to jump into action and tackle the suspect. Describing the chaotic situation, he said, “One guy was hollering and saying, you know, ‘Stop him, Jr. Catch him.’ You know, ‘tackle him,’ whatever. And he’s just just bail and running. And I don’t know where I heard that guy hollering.”

But, despite the chaos of the moment, Mr. Contreras was able to rouse himself to action by acting on instinct rather than thinking things through too much. Describing his thought process, or lack thereof, as he ran into action, Mr. Contreras said, “So I’m just like, ‘Okay, well, I’m right here.’ And I just, I didn’t think about it, you’re just a reaction. I didn’t hesitate it was just, just do it. So I went to go tackle him and another gentleman did the same thing.”

Realizing the importance of what he was doing as he did it, Mr. Contreras added that he saw the firearm fall from the suspect’s sleeve as they tackled him, saying, “And as I’m tackling him, I see his weapon either fall out of his hand, or out of his sleeve because he was wearing a long jacket, or like a Carhar. So when I see that hit the ground, I’m like, ‘oh, you know, we got to take this guy down.‘”

Concluding, he added that it felt like forever as they struggled to get a grip on the man and keep him down so that the police could properly apprehend him. Mr. Contreras said, “And so like I said, I did and another good samaritan did, and we held them down. And it seemed like, forever, but if it was, it was like 30 seconds holding him down and me and the other gentleman were hollering, going, you know, where’s the cops. . . you know, get the cops over here. Get the cops over here. You know, we got him.”

Watch the clip here, from KETV 7: