Chris Mintz, a 30-year-old Army veteran, was in his fourth day of a new semester at Umpqua Community College when shots rang out in a nearby classroom on Thursday morning.
In the minutes that followed, a lone gunman killed nine people in the attack in Roseburg, Oregon, before dying in a gunfire exchange with police.
But details have emerged that Mintz risked his own life to stop the killer. Family members and witnesses say Mintz rushed to the front of his own classroom and blocked the door to keep the gunman from entering. He was shot several times and had to undergo emergency surgery.
Here's your hero! Chris Mintz, Army vet used to live in Tacoma. He rushed the gunman and survived being shot 7 times pic.twitter.com/0lj8JF67or— John R. Knicely (@KnicelyKIRO7) October 2, 2015
Mintz, who is a father, posted a message about his son's birthday to his Facebook page early on Thursday. His aunt said that during the attack, he looked up at the gunman and said, "Today is my son's birthday."
Photos of Chris Mintz, who is being credited with charging the shooter http://t.co/tazUHXobzh pic.twitter.com/tf3t5qrBVA— The News-Review (@nrtoday) October 2, 2015
But the shooter showed no mercy and continued to fire at Mintz. As of Friday morning, he is in recovery. A message posted to his Facebook page on Friday morning read:
"This is Chris's friend, Chris asked me to thank everyone for their support, he is grateful and keeping our community and all victims in his thoughts... He is resting and in pain but smiling and the same ol' Chris."
“He could have very easily died,” Wanda Mintz, the victim’s aunt, told local news station Fox 8. “I really think that if he wasn't such a strong, young guy, he may have died.”
Mintz is from North Carolina but moved to Oregon after serving in the Army for 10 years.
His cousin, Derek Bourgeois, created a GoFundMe page to offset the costs associated with his recovery. The pair grew up together in North Carolina.
"He is going to have to go through a ton of physical therapy," wrote Bourgeois. "While Chris is not the type of person to ask for it, he is going to need all of the help he can get while he recovers."