Police: 2 Men Stopped Shooter At Louie's On Lake Hefner

Friday, May 25th 2018, 2:36 pm

By: LeighAnne Manwarren

Two men stopped a shooter after he shot three people at a restaurant on Lake Hefner, police said Friday.

Bryan Whittle, 39, of The Village, and Juan Carlos Nazario, 35, were identified as the two men who shot Alexander C. Tilghman, 28, after he opened fire into Louie's on Lake Hefner.

Whittle was in the left turn lane on westbound Britton Road at Lake Hefner Parkway when he noticed a commotion coming from the lake. He told News 9's Alex Cameron he thought someone had drowned and drove over into the Louie's parking lot to see if he could help.

While he was retrieving his emergency kit, someone in the parking lot told him an active shooter situation was happening and that the shooter was there.

Police said Whittle and Nazario both took their firearms from the trunks of the vehicles and shot at the shooting suspect.

Whittle said while he approached the shooter near the treeline, he thought the shooter started firing at him. He told Alex Cameron he did not want to discuss the shooting in full detail but said he was not injured.

“I stopped the threat,” Whittle said.

Tilghman, who suffered multiple gunshot wounds, died at the scene.

When Whittle was checking to see if the shooter was down, he noticed another man doing the same thing but coming from a different direction. The man was Nazario.

"I just did what I was trained to do to neutralize the situation," Nazario told News 9's Amanda Taylor.

Nazario said he has law enforcement training.

"They were two people who stopped a tragic situation from going any further," Oklahoma City police Capt. Bo Mathews said.

The NRA said in a tweet Friday that the Thursday shootings were an example of "how the best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."

Related Story: NRA Releases Statement After Oklahoma Restaurant Shooting