Get your tissues ready Black Loop fam,’ because what you’re about to witness is truly touching and shows the beauty in the humanity of people that sometimes seems to be nonexistent within our society.
It’s been just a few days since James Shaw Jr., the man dubbed as the ‘Waffle House Hero,’ saved the lives of many on April 22, 2018.
He is the brave 29 year old African American man who wrestled the gun away from the Caucasian suspect, Travis Reinking (29), causing him to flee the scene. Before fleeing, Reinking randomly shot four people to death and wounded others in the Nashville, TN Waffle House location, as Shaw and others were simply trying to enjoy a meal.
James Shaw Jr.’s face and name has now become not what a ‘suspect looks like’ to many biased people (*coughs* that Starbucks manager and those arresting officers), but instead he’s become what a true hero actually IS. Now, complete strangers are doing a very generous thing for him in return. Hero Raises Thousands For Victims’ Families Just when we thought James Shaw Jr. couldn’t get any better, turns out, the brotha is not only a hero, he has a big heart.
The following day (April 23, 2018), after he saved many lives at Waffle House, James did the very generous act of starting a Go Fund Me campaign for the victim’s families, with the hopes of raising $15,000. As of 12noon ET April 24th, James’ has far exceeded his goal and has already raised a whopping $97,022 for the victims’ families. He asked for absolutely NOTHING in return, but many soon realized it was actually the Waffle House hero, who’d started the victims’ Go Fund Me and therefore, his generosity and caring heart did NOT go unnoticed…
Just hours after James Shaw Jr. started raising money for the victims’ families, complete strangers flocked to Go Fund Me to donate money to him. The GoFundMe page was started by a New York journalist, names Yashar Ali, who titled the GoFundMe campaign, ‘Help The Waffle House Hero’ (You can donate HERE).
In the campaign’s description, Yashar listed not only what James did for the victims, but also his love for his 4 year old daughter: James Shaw Jr. put his life on the line when he took on the gunman who killed four people at a Nashville area Waffle House. Since that horrific shooting, he has raised tens of thousands of dollars for the victims and shown a level of humility that has inspired many of us. I normally don’t get involved directly in these matters, but James’ grace has inspired me to start this page to give him the support I feel he deserves.
According to news reports, James has a four-year-old daughter. Perhaps this money can be used for her college fund or some other education related expense. But I’d be just as happy if James used some of this money to take his family on a nice vacation. Funds will be transferred directly to James Shaw Jr. through GoFundMe. As of 12noon ET April 24, 2018, just 12 HOURS after the James Shaw Jr. GoFundMe campaign kicked off, an astounding $59,044.00 has already been raised for James.
Yashir Ali stated, on Twitter, that he felt it was only right that some type of reward be raised for James, given his huge heart and courage: A wise woman once said, “When you do good, people notice.” James Shaw Jr. is a perfect personification of that unspoken rule.
As far as the murderer, Travis Reinking was captured a day later in the woods somewhere and officially charged with four counts of murder for the deaths of De’Ebony Groves, Taurean C. Sanderlin, Joe R. Perez and Akilah Dasilva.
