Kevin Holland, a UFC fighter, and his MMA training partner, Patrick Robinson, heroically apprehended a gunman who opened fire inside a Houston sushi restaurant on Monday night.
Fox 26 reported that while training in Fort Worth, Holland and Robinson were eating at RA Sushi in Highland Village. During their meal, an armed man ran into the restaurant and shot at the ceiling. With nearly 50 people inside the restaurant, Holland and Robinson sprang into action, subduing the gunman.
When officers arrived at the scene, the suspect was already apprehended by the RA Sushi customers.
“Me and my buddy, we ran to the shooter, got him down, strangled him, took the gun from him, and then called the police,” said Patrick Robinson. “Police came and got him. We fight for a living, so it was just quick instinct.”
Holland recalled his experience: “I was facing one way and then we heard a big, loud bang. I thought it was a champagne bottle popping, because the people behind us were having a birthday party. I go to look around and I see people running like they had the look of death on their face, like super worried.”
After approaching the gunman with the weapon pointing straight at him, the suspect and a customer were rolling on the floor. In order to get the gun away from the suspect, Holland uses an MMA technique, the rear-naked choke submission hold.
“As soon as he was [asleep], I let go of the choke, slid out on top, got full mount, stretched the arms out so he couldn’t reach for anything,” Holland said.
In an interview with ABC 13 in Houston Robinson said, “You see it on the news, or you see it on TV or the movies and stuff, but you never see it actually in life, and it is crazy that nobody got hurt.”
“I wouldn’t tell the next person to do it unless they’re seriously trained for that type of situation. Besides doing cage fighting, I train self-defense first and foremost. For me, that was the best way to defend myself in the moment. Plus, I like Batman.”
The Houston Police Department is thankful for the involvement of civilians in the situation. “If it wasn’t for the quick thinking of the good Samaritan taking the gun away, who knows what could have happened,” Sgt. Ricardo Salas from the Houston Police Department commented.
