When your martial arts experience can help save lives.
UFC welterweight Kevin Holland played the role of hero and possible life-saver on Monday night.
Less than two weeks after his win over Alex Oliveira at UFC 272, Holland and his friend Patrick Robinson helped take down a gunman who fired a shot at the RA Sushi restaurant in the Highland Village neighborhood in Houston, TX.
Local ABC affiliate KTRK has the details on this dramatic scene:
It happened around 11:30 p.m. when police say a panic alarm went off at the restaurant and they also received witness calls for a shooting in progress.
When officers arrived, a suspect was already in custody but not by authorities. They were being held by Ra Sushi customers.
According to HPD Sgt. Ricardo Salas, 40-50 people were inside the restaurant, but had to duck for cover when the suspect pulled out a gun and fired one time into the air.
Three customers rushed the shooter, and likely saved a lot of lives, Salas said.
“We were eating, and the next thing you know, a gunshot just popped off. So everything paused and then everybody started running to get down under a table,” said Patrick Robinson, one of the people who stopped the shooter.
Robinson and his friend ran toward the armed suspect, who had fired the shot in the bar area. A third person had grabbed the suspect.
“We got him down, apprehended him, got the gun away from him and the bag that he had,” Robinson described.
Holland said he declined to be interviewed by local media but did post this video on his Instagram story.
This was Kevin Holland’s reaction shortly after he and a friend took down a gunman Monday night at a restaurant in Houston.
Full story: https://t.co/OynF23aZqi
( @Trailblaze2top / @ko_reps) pic.twitter.com/YxN2WdtPXI
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) March 15, 2022
“I laugh a lot even when things aren’t funny,” he wrote in his story (via MMA Junkie). “I smile when I should frown. Super blessed and thankful to see today. Kiss ya kids, hug ya family and treat random people with care. You never know what a mfer may be going through.”
You may recall that it was only a few months ago that Holland apprehended a car thief with the ‘Khabib scarf hold’ until police arrived on scene.
As for the gunman in this story, he was already wanted for failing to appear in court on a criminal mischief charge, and now faces additional charges that include possessing a stolen gun and discharge of a firearm.
Thankfully, as a result of the actions of Holland, Robinson, and the unidentified third patron, no injuries were reported inside RA Sushi.