Houston officer recounts tackling rifle-wielding man armed with 120 ammunition rounds near children

‘No matter what I grabbed, make sure I grabbed that rifle,’ says Kendrick Simpo, whose own weapon remained holstered

Kendrick Simpo says he had prepared ‘to get shot’ (Screengrab/ABC 13)

A Texas police sergeant is being called a hero for tackling an armed man and thus preventing a potential mass shooting at a mall.

Although the incident took place on 5 February, Kendrick Simpo, 41, recalled on Friday how he stopped the man armed with a rifle and 120 rounds of ammunition as a dance competition for young girls went on at Houston’s Galleria mall.

Mr Simpo said a call over the radio notified him about a man with a rifle near Macy’s store. The sergeant, along with the mall’s security guard, walked in that direction and spotted him near the Westin Ballroom entrance where hundreds of children were present.

“I walked by him, and as soon as I passed him — I pushed the security officer out of the way and came up behind him and reached for the rifle,” Mr Simpo told Houston Chronicle.

“I caught him off guard,” said Mr Simpo, who has worked off-duty security jobs at the mall for almost 10 years.

Due to the ongoing dance competition, the sergeant had to keep his handgun down as he didn’t want to “startle anyone”.

The man was apprehended within seconds and disarmed of the Radical Firearms rifle with 5.56mm ammunition and a Taurus semi-automatic handgun.

“I quickly bum rushed, tackled him. And my first reaction was to make sure that I get a hold of the rifle. No matter what I grabbed, make sure I grabbed that rifle,” Mr Simpo told ABC 13.

“I had in my mind [that] I was going to get shot. I just had to bear the pain, I knew it was going to hurt, and I was like, ‘Whatever I do, I cannot let go of this rifle’.”

The sergeant added that the gunman’s intent was not known but his presence “didn’t sit right with me”. He reportedly said something to Mr Simpo, but was focused on snatching the rifle than listening.

The gunman, identified as Argentine national Guido Herrera, was wearing a shirt with The Punisher logo on it along with a leather mask with spikes. Surveillance video showed him carrying a rifle in one hand and a Bible in another.

Herrera was sentenced to six months in prison last Thursday and charged with misdemeanour as he never fired the weapon.

Defence attorney Armen Merjanian reportedly called Herrera a “gun-loving Texan” who could rightfully possess weapons.