James Shaw Jr.

Starling of the Month - April 2018

Public shootings are all too common in the current decade of American society. Often they end with taken lives and a 24 hour media cycle dedicated to who the shooter was, what his motives were, and how this was outside of his character. While the case of the Waffle House shooting did indeed result in four lost lives, the incident instead focuses on the hero in this case and not the villain.

James Shaw Jr. is the Starling for the month of April for his heroic act as well as his following actions. Shaw’s quick actions in wrestling away the assault weapon from the American terrorist saved the lives of numerous others.

Heartbroken by those four he could not save, Shaw took to action and started a GoFundMe page to pay for the funerals of those who did not make it. More than $160,000 was raised by Shaw for the families of the victims to cover the costs of funerals and anything else they may need in the wake of such a tragedy.

James Shaw Jr. is an American hero in every sense of the word. His actions were also praised by previous Starling of the Month Emma Gonzalez who took to social media to call Shaw “my hero” rather than acknowledging a shout-out from Kanye West.

James Shaw Jr. since the incident has received praise across the country for his heroic actions. The suspect, 29-year-old Travis Reinking has been apprehended and is in police custody.

See what Twitter currently has to say about Shaw below.