Army veteran steps in to help man shot at Texas Walmart

An Army vet says his military training kicked in when a man was shot at a Walmart in the Red Bird area of Dallas, Texas on Friday.

Rafael Semmler told FOX 4 that he and his family were at the Walmart when they heard gunfire. After making sure his family got out safely, he returned to the store to see if there was anything he could do to help.

“Everybody started running towards us screaming they’re shooting, they’re shooting,” Semmler recalled. “You don’t really think about it, it’s just at that time it’s kind of like instinct, it’s what you’ve been trained to do.”

Semmler was in the military for eleven years as an infantryman and a medic, serving places like Kuwait, Iraq and Bosnia.

He said a man had been shot in the arm and losing a lot of blood.

“Instantly, I grabbed shirts, ripped them off, put pressure points on the entrance and exit wound,” Semmler added. “[I] tied it up, told him it’s going to hurt… He just kept telling me ‘please don’t leave me, just stay with me. Stay here.’”

Dallas police told FOX 4 that three men met at the Walmart to buy a cell phone, but the deal went south. The man shot, who has not been identified, was involved in the assault.

Police are still looking for two others who fled after the shooting. No description of the suspects has been released.