Hide Transcript Show Transcript

WEBVTT , RECOVERING AT THE UNIVERSITYOF KANSAS HOSPITAL.HALEY: HE WANTED TO SEND AMESSAGE ABOUT WHY HE TOOK ASTAND.KELEIGH GIBBS IS LIVE OUTSIDETHE HOSPITAL WITH HIS STORY.KELEIGH: THAT'S RIGHT.GRILLOT IS SPENDING THE NIGHTHERE, RECOVERING FROM GUNSHOTWOUNDS TO HIS HAND AND CHEST. HE WANTED TO SAY SOMETHING AFTERRECEIVING AN OVERWHELMING AMOUNTOF SUPPORT FROM THE COMMUNITY.THIS IS HIS MESSAGE TO ALL OFUS.>> A LOT OF PEOPLE, HE A HEROAND THIS, THAT, AND THE OTHER.,NO, IT IS NOT LIKE THAT.I WAS JUST DOING WHAT ANYONESHOULD HAVE DONE FOR ANOTHERHUMAN BEING.KELEIGH: 24-YEAR-OLD IANGRILLOT, WHO TRIED TO STOP51-YEAR-OLD ADAM PURINGTON FROMOPEN FIRING AT AUSTIN'S BAR ANDGRILL IN OLATHE LAST NIGHT.PURINGTON HIT TWO MEN, SRINIVASKUCHIBHOTLA AND ALOK MADASANI,THEN GRILLOT STEPPED IN.>> I THOUGHT I HEARD NINE SHOTS,EXPECTED HIS MAGAZINE TO BEEMPTY.SO I GOT UP AND PROCEEDED TOCHASE HIM DOWN, TRIED TO SUBDUEHIM SO THAT WAY THE POLICE COULDCOME IN AND DO WHAT THEY NEEDEDTO DO AND I GUESS I MISCOUNTED, WITH EVERYTHING GOING ON, ANDI GOT BEHIND HIM AND HE TURNEDAROUND AND FIRED A ROUND AT ME.KELEIGH: THAT ROUND, HITTINGGRILLOT'S HAND AND CHEST. >> I AM GRATEFUL TO BE ALIVE.ANOTHER HALF INCH AND I COULD BEDEAD OR NEVER WALK AGAIN.KELEIGH: KUCHIBHOTLA DIED FROMHIS INJURIES.TODAY, MADASANI VISITED IAN INHIS HOSPITAL ROOM.>> IT WAS THE GREATEST THING, ICAN'T EVEN DESCRIBE IT.COME TO FIND OUT, HE'S ALSO GOT,AH, HIS WIFE IS FIVE MONTHSPREGNANT SO THAT WAS KIND OF UH,, A REAL, SOMETHING WAS GUIDINGME TO DO WHAT I DID AND SOMEBODYWAS WATCHING OVER ME AND HIM.KELEIGH: NOW, GRILLOT ALSOFRACTURED ONE OF THE VERTEBRAEIN HIS NECK.IF THE BULLET HAD GONE IN A HALFAN INCH OVER, HE MAY HAVE NEVERHAVE WALKED AGAIN OR EVENSURVIVED.HALEY: INCREDIBLE STORY.HE WAS WITH A FRIEND WHO LEFTSHORTLY BEFORE THE SHOOTINGHAPPENED.STEVEN: HE SAYS HE'S NOTSURPRISED IAN WOULD HAVE STEPPEDUP TO DEFEND TWO STRANGERS.>> NOBODY REALLY EXPECTS THAT TOHAPPEN.KNOWING HIS CHARACTER FROM THEFEW TIMES I HAD HERE WITH HIM AT

Advertisement Man who tried to stop Olathe bar shooting speaks from his hospital room Ian Grillot says a bullet went through his hand into his chest Share Shares Copy Link Copy

The Olathe man being called a hero for his actions leading up to and during a shooting at an area bar and grill is speaking from his hospital room. Ian Grillot, 24, tried to stop the man who opened fire at Austin's Bar & Grill Wednesday night. First Grillot said he approached the man as a result of his actions in that restaurant. His family said the suspect, identified as Adam W. Purinton, 51, was mistreating others in the bar. "I opened the door and was like I'm going to have to ask you to leave, sir. There's no reason to act like that around this bar. This is a family restaurant." After that, Grillot said the man left and things went back to normal - he went back to watching the University of Kansas basketball game with his friends. But the suspect returned. "I thought all the trouble was over with, and we were all just sitting and watching the game minding our own business." The bar's door opened - and Grillot remembers a man "opening up" and "firing rounds". "I was hit in the hand and the chest. Initially I had gotten him to the table when he first started firing," explained Grillot. "I thought I heard nine shots. I thought his magazine was empty. So I got up and started chasing him down. I tried to subdue him so that police could come in and do what they needed to do and I guess I miscounted with everything going on. I got behind him. And he turned around and fired a round at me." That bullet with through Ian's hand and into his chest barely missing his carotid artery and fracturing one of the vertebrae in his neck. The next thing he remembers is waking up in the hospital. "I was told I was incredibly lucky for what happened to me. I could have never walked again or seen my family again." Now people are thanking him for his quick action that night. "A lot of people are calling me a hero and this and that and the other - and it's not like that. I was just doing what anyone should have done for another human being. It's not about where he's from or his ethnicity. We're all humans. So I just felt I did what was naturally right to do." Grillot said after waking up at the hospital he was praying for the two other men involved - Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani. Kuchibhotla was killed but Madasani escaped with serious injuries. "I'm just very grateful that one of the gentlemen is fine and alive. It's terrible what happened to his friend, but I think he was watching over us last night." Madasani came to visit Grillot in the hospital Thursday. "It was the greatest thing," said Ian. "I can't even describe it. Come to find out - his wife is five months pregnant. So that was kind of a - a real - something was guiding me to do what I did. And somebody was watching over me and him." Grillot's family has started GoFundMe page to help him on his long road to recovery. So far more than $50,000 has been raised to help with his medical bills. You can watch the full interview from his hospital room here: Purinton is charged with 1 count of premeditated murder and 2 counts of attempted premeditated murder. The FBI says a hate crime investigation has been opened in connection with this incident. Get news and weather updates on the go, download the KMBC 9 News app