One of the men injured in the Austins Bar and Grill shooting shared his account of what happened that night, saying it’s hard to look back on it.
Ian Grillot is being called a hero. He said he doesn’t view himself as a hero; he was just doing the right thing.
The shooting from Grillot’s point of view
Grillot said he was at Austins watching the KU game with his friends when Adam Purinton started a conflict. One of Grillot’s friends approached Purinton, and Grillot helped escort him out of the restaurant.
Grillot said about 20 to 30 minutes later Purinton returned.
“It’s hard to look back on and think about,” Grillot said.
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He and his friends got under a table when they heard gunshots.
When the shooting stopped Grillot chased the gunman to try to stop him.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen. If he would have tried to go in the back door and possibly cause more damage, I just couldn’t let that happen,” Grillot said. “Morally, with my personal standards of life, I couldn’t allow that. So that’s why I did what I did.”
Grillot was shot in the hand and the chest when he tried to stop the gunman.
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"There's a new sense of hope all around this world now."
Grillot said he's very grateful, for the terrible situation that it was, that such positivity is coming from the shooting.
"People all across the world have been reaching out and telling me I'm a hero, that I give them new hope," he said. "It feels wonderful that I'm able to inspire people and stuff like that, but that's not what I was trying to do. I was just trying to do the right thing."
Grillot also said the support he's received is overwhelming.
"I can't say thank you enough for all the support and hours I've been receiving," Grillot said. "It means a lot. It's just... I still can't quite grasp everything. It doesn't seem real, but was definitely a real evening. And a lot of lives were changed that night, and a lot of lives will never be the same."
He said Kansas is not a hateful place. Olathe is not a hateful place. It's a passionate place.
"Life is too short to have hate, and that's my philosophy on it," Grillot said.
When asked what he wants to get across to others Grillot said, "Stop the fighting, and love one another. Life is too short for hate and anger."
Doctors say Grillot is “well on his way to a speedy recovery”
Dr. Justin Green was on-call for the trauma team the night Grillot came in.
Dr. Green said Grillot was a centimeter away from death.
“Ian was initially relatively stable but had suffered a significant gunshot wound that traversed his right hand and then traversed the central portion of his chest. That’s a very serious injury, but fortunately he’s making a wonderful recovery,” Dr. Green said.
Dr. Green also said his team expects Grillot to make a “phenomenal recovery.”
Grillot said he's still in a lot of pain, but he'll take the pain.
"I'm alive. I'm alive and I'm making an impact," Grillot said. "I have no clue what I'm making right now, just very grateful that I'm giving people new hope, and it's beautiful. I love it."
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