‘I did what God would want me to,’ man who stopped Texas church shooter says after honor
Jack Wilson reflects on those six seconds and knows if he hadn’t shot the gunman, more lives would have been taken that day his two friends were killed during a service at a White Settlement church.
“I did what God would want me to do — would have me do — in that situation,” Wilson said Monday after he received the Governor’s Medal of Courage in Austin. “And understanding that had I not done what I did, the situation would have been extremely much more chaotic.”
Wilson said the gunman had more rounds in his shotgun when he killed him with one shot seconds after he opened fire. Church deacon Tony Wallace and Richard White died in the Dec. 29 shooting. White was a member of the church’s volunteer security team and a close friend of Wilson’s.
The two had spent countless hours together at the shooting range.
“Both of them strike home,” Wilson said. “I miss both of them already.”
Wilson, of Granbury, has attended the West Freeway Church of Christ for nearly 50 years. Since the shooting, he said he has visited the church almost daily, replaying the events in his mind.
“It’s still clear in my mind where everything was — where Richard was, where Tony was, where the individual was at when I did take my shot,” Wilson said.
Wilson has been a license-to-carry instructor for decades, and leads the church’s volunteer security team. He said it is a commitment he doesn’t plan to to back away from any time soon.
“When you put that weapon on, even though you’re not law enforcement, you are supposed to be your brother’s keeper,” said Wilson, who is also a candidate for Hood County commissioner.
And it was Wilson’s quick action, courage and calmness under pressure that Gov. Greg Abbott cited when he bestowed Wilson with the Governor’s Medal of Courage. The medal is given to those “who display great acts of heroism by risking their own safety to save another’s life.” It is the highest award the governor can bestow to civilians.
“Courage has been defined as feeling fear, yet choosing to act. Following your heart when determining what to do. Persevering in the face of adversity,” Abbott said. “Jack Wilson embodies those traits.”
Wilson said he has been hesitant to accept the label of a hero, and that he views himself as more of a protector. But Abbott said “a hero to the people of Texas” is exactly what Wilson is.
When events like this happen, Wilson said, you can do one of two things: step up and do what’s right or walk away.
“I’m not one to walk away. Not from this or anything else,” he said.
After the shooting, Wilson’s actions drew the praise of Texas’ top leaders. Abbott cited Wilson’s “valor and quick action” at the Jan. 2 funeral of White, who rose to confront the gunman, but was shot and killed.
“A lot of them we have known well over 50 years,” Wilson said about the church members. “It is a family.”
Britt Farmer, senior minister at the West Freeway Church of Christ, attended Monday’s ceremony. Abbott presented him with a Texas flag that had been flown over the Capitol.
“There is a serenity and calmness about the way that you responded to this tragedy that’s almost unimaginable,” Abbott told Farmer. “It was your church that was attacked. But yet, God empowered you with the strength that you needed to be able to instill calm and resolve in your congregants. And God continues to work through you to this very day.”
In the wake of the shooting, Wilson’s actions also drew the praise of state lawmakers, who lauded the passage of new gun laws in recent years that allow gun owners to take their weapons into places of worship and waive fees for private institutions that have their own security teams.
“When you talk to people, surreal is the word that they used most often,” Sen. Jane Nelson, a Republican from Flower Mound whose district encompasses the church, said after Monday’s ceremony. “We are blessed to live in a community where people take care of each other. I wish the incident didn’t happen. But thank goodness we had a law in place that allowed him to do what he had to do.”
In addition to Wilson’s family, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Rep. Charlie Geren, a Republican from Fort Worth, Sen. Brian Birdwell, a Republican from Granbury, and Sen. Donna Campbell, a Republican from New Braunfels who authored the bill that clarifies that guns are legally allowed in places of worship, attended Monday’s event.
Wilson, who previously owned the On Target Firearms Training Academy in Fort Worth, said he strives to ensure that firearm owners understand they need to be ready to react.
“There are no safe havens, whether it be schools, whether it be churches. You have to be prepared for what will come out in front of you at any time,” Wilson said. “Evil exists everywhere.”
Wilson said he thinks about how much worse it could have been, recounting that a third shot had fired from the gunman’s shotgun when Wilson fired his fatal shot.
But for those struggling to cope with a shooting that happened so close to home, Wilson had a few words of advice.
“Spend time talking to God,” he said.
This story was originally published January 13, 2020 at 11:51 AM.
