SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Teen shot by Tumwater Walmart gunman thankful to be alive
Jun 18, 2018, 3:02 PM | Updated: 4:23 pm
Two people were injured in a shooting at Walmart in Tumwater Sunday night. (KIRO 7 image)
(KIRO 7 image)
New Tumwater driver Danner, 16, never expected to encounter a fatal threat on a routine Sunday afternoon trip to Fred Meyer.
The high-schooler told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson that he was driving on Israel Road near Tumwater High School on Sunday when he “noticed a man standing in the middle of the road” who appeared to have just crashed a car.
RELATED: Armed civilian took down shooter at Tumwater Walmart
At first, Danner thought the man was holding a cell phone and trying to get help. As the teen got closer, however, he realized the object was actually a gun.
“I just went into basic survival instincts,” Danner said. “I ducked my head and floored it, so that way I would miss it.”
As Danner passed by the man, the shooter fired at him through the windshield.
The bullet “nicked my thumb and went in the steering wheel of my car,” Danner described.
Danner pulled over at a nearby Toyota dealership to call 911 and his parents.
“I kind of hunkered down, sat tight, and waited,” he said.
His parents arrived soon after, and he was checked out at the hospital before being released later that day. Danner described the injury as “just a flesh wound.”
Danner soon learned that the man who shot him drove to the Walmart down the road in a stolen car, where he attempted to carjack a different car and shot a man twice. An armed civilian fatally shot the gunman, bringing the rampage to an end.
Danner said that he was very glad the Good Samaritan was on hand with a gun.
“He’s definitely a hero … I’m thankful for that guy,” he said.
“I was super thankful because I don’t want [the shooter] taking anybody else’s life or injuring anybody else,” Danner added. “I’m just glad somebody was on the scene … to assess the situation and stop it before it escalated.”
