Chris Grant, 50, received praise from the media and Robert O’Rourke due to his heroic actions during the El Paso Walmart shooting in August.
But Secret Service arrested him just before President Donald Trump would honor him for his actions. Turns out Grant has an outstanding arrest warrant and the El Paso police have refuted his story.
The suspect shot Grant in the ribs and kidney during the shooting on August 3. Grant told the media “that he sought to spare fellow shoppers by picking up bottles and throwing them at the gunman, with at least one hitting or nearly striking him.” He also supposedly saw the shooter’s face and a Customs and Border Protection officer saved him.
The El Paso Police Department (EPPD) said not so fast:
What’s more, the EPPD says Grant’s story about throwing bottles at the shooter doesn’t align with surveillance footage of the events that day.“Mr. Grant’s actions were captured on video, but they do not reflect his account to the media outlet [CNN],” Carrillo said. “It contradicts his statements, in fact… [H]e did not take any action towards the shooter.”Carrillo said surveillance footage shows Grant acting in “a manner of self-preservation, as best as I can describe it, and nothing else.”“I’m not demeaning his actions,” he added.
Spokesman Sgt. Enrique Carrillo said that no one checked with the police department to confirm Grant’s story. If they had, Carillo said the department would have told them “his actions did not match his account.”
I guess no one told Trump. Grant’s mother stood in for him at the ceremony, but “Trump praised Grant for the actions he described to CNN.”
The EPPD did not have “prior communication” with the Secret Service about Grant. This means his arrest had nothing to do with “his false statements to CNN.”
EPPD did not issue the warrant.
EPPD only released the details of Grant’s true actions after the arrest when people finally reached out to them about him.
From The Washington Examiner:
He was arrested by the Secret Service for being a “fugitive from justice,” according to a spokesperson for the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.Grant has a criminal record for theft and evading arrest, according to Texas court documents reviewed by the Washington Examiner. He was sentenced to eight months in prison for car theft in March, after pleading guilty to stealing a silver 2009 Mazda 6. In 2016, he pleaded guilty and was also sentenced to 18 days in jail for stealing TVs from a Sears in Richardson, Texas. He pleaded guilty to evading arrest in Collins County in 2016.A Secret Service spokesperson said: “On Monday, Sept. 9, 2019, a White House visitor with an arrest warrant was temporarily detained by U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division Officers. It was subsequently determined that while the arrest warrant was still active, the agency that issued the warrant would not extradite, at which time the individual was released from Secret Service custody.”
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