El Paso Shooting ‘Hero’ Arrested by Secret Service Before Meeting Trump: Report
YIKES
A Texas man honored by President Donald Trump for his actions during a mass shooting in an El Paso Walmart last month was arrested by Secret Service during his White House visit on Monday, officials said. Chris Grant, 50, was arrested on an active warrant from El Paso police, though it was not immediately clear what crime he was accused of committing. The arrest, which was first reported by the Washington Examiner, was confirmed to The Daily Beast by the Washington D.C. Police Department, which said Grant was arrested for being a “fugitive from justice.” “On Monday, Sept. 9, 2019, a White House visitor with an arrest warrant was temporarily detained by U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division Officers,” a Secret Service spokesperson told The Daily Beast. “It was subsequently determined that while the arrest warrant was still active, the agency that issued the warrant would not extradite, at which time the individual was released from Secret Service custody.”
Police say on Aug. 3, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius killed at least 22 people inside a crowded Walmart near the southern border. Grant told several national news outlets he threw bottles at the gunman during the attack to distract him from fellow shoppers, but was shot in the ribs and a kidney. An El Paso police spokesman reportedly disputed that account in comments to The Washington Examiner, however, claiming store footage showed the that 50-year-old's “statements were inconsistent with what was revealed on video.” “Nobody bothered to check with us,” El Paso police spokesman Sgt. Enrique Carrillo was quoted as saying. “They would have been informed, as I am telling you now, that our detectives reviewed hours of video and his actions did not match his account.”
Last month, President Trump honored Grant at a ceremony following the shooting, praising his heroic actions and and telling the crowd to “thank Chris for us.”