While many are trying to forget about Christopher Harper Mercer, who killed nine people during the Umpqua Community College shooting, details have emerged about another Chris, Chris Mintz, who is being called a hero.
Mintz, 30, is an Army vet who was starting his first week of class at the university when Mercer burst into the classroom and began to open fire, according to the Examiner.
In an attempt to protect his fellow classmates, Mintz used his body to block the entrance, buying some time for his colleagues to escape.
"He trie[d] to block the door to keep the gunman from coming in," Mintz's aunt, Wanda Mintz, told Fox Oregon affiliate Q13.
Despite his attempts to block the door, Mercer still made it inside and shot Mintz three times. After being shot, Mintz fell to the floor, looked at Mercer and said, "It's my son's birthday today," according to Wanda. He then reportedly got shot two more times.
Mintz survived the shooting and is in the hospital recovering, reported Business Insider. He is expected to survive, but since the incident left him with two broken legs, family members believe he will likely have to re-learn how to walk.
"We're not sure how his legs got broken," another aunt, Sheila Brown, said in an interview. "He was on the wrestling team and he's done cage-fighting so it does not surprise me that he would act heroically."
