A thankful father is trying to track down the homeless man who shielded his daughter during the deadly mass shooting in Sacramento, California.
Six people died and a dozen were injured during the attack which took place in downtown Sacramento on Sunday morning.
Tom Orosco was picking up his daughter and her three friends downtown just after 2 a.m. Sunday when he heard the gunfire and chaos.
“I was on the phone with them,” Tom said. “I heard the shots out the window and the shots on my phone.”
Then, the phone died.
“Immediately, I said, ‘I got to find them, I got to find them,”‘ Tom said.
The frantic father tried to find the girls but it was difficult with so much noise and chaos going on.
What he didn’t realize was the four young women, whose identities have not been released, were being shielded in an alcove by a homeless man called Tim.
“They ran down here and Tim was sleeping there,” Tom said. “My daughter had fallen and Tim helped her up, and [he] said, ‘Come in here,’ and brought them where it was safe. He literally stood up to protect them from anybody that came.”
The relieved father returned to the scene days later to thank Tim and took a picture of him.
“He was willing to put himself in the line of fire, no doubt,” Tom told CBS 13 local news.
But when the family tried to track him down again to offer him help, they couldn’t find him. CBS Local Sacramento also tried to find him but the Ohio native, who has been homeless for around 8 months, couldn’t be traced.
The family plans to get Tim a phone and bring him food and supplies weekly.
“It’s a reminder that there’s good people out here,” Tom said. “And he’s one of those good people.”
Two brothers Dandrae Martin, 26, and Smiley Martin, 27, have since been arrested in connection with Sunday’s shooting.
I hope the family manages to find Tim so they can properly thank him for his heroic efforts that night. Please share.
