Monster Jam and Heroes Stop Gunmen

Father and son take down gunmen after Monster Jam
Orlando Sentinel
By Tiffany Walden
Staff Writer
January 28, 2015

"If I didn't do something, something bad could've happened," Richie said. "It might not have been the smartest thing, charging a man with a shotgun. But there were a lot of people around. There were kids in that van"

2015 Monster Jam

Grave Digger performs during Monster Jam at the

Orlando Citrus Bowl on Saturday, January 24, 2015.

(Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)

Adrenaline spurred Gary Richie into action when he saw the barrel of a shotgun swing past him and his family while walking to their car after Saturday's Monster Jam in Orlando.

The alleged gun-toter, Cory Gathings, was walking toward a minivan that he and his friend Stephen Page had just sideswiped while driving down West South Street near South Norton Avenue just before 10 p.m.

Unsure of what would happen after Gathings made it to the minivan, Richie and his 35-year-old son Jacob sprang into action.

"I basically bear-hugged [Gathings] and pushed him into the open door of his pickup truck," Richie, 54, said Monday. "We pushed him into the seat of the truck and grabbed the gun."

Gathings and Page, both 21, were later arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a firearm.

Richie, a former U.S. airman and police officer, said he yelled for his family to get back before he and his son tackled Gathings.
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