SASKATOON -- Josh Neudorf wasn't alone in the effort to subdue a man after a gun was fired in a downtown Saskatoon bar just before midnight Mar. 3. But he was the first to intervene.
In their own words, Neudorf and his friends Jesse Heit and Joey Duong, who were at the bar for Neudorf's bachelor party, recount what happened Tuesday night at Hudson's.
JOSH: I was having a good night. I was on my stag. I was really trying to enjoy myself.
JESSE: I think we got there about eight. It was a stag, lots of karaoke. It was loud.
JOSH: When he walked in, he announced his presence with a shot. The first shot, we weren't really sure if it was a firework or a gun, we just heard a bang.
JESSE: Honestly, with all the karaoke, nobody knew what was really going on and it was just a bang and no one saw anything.
JOSH: It took about a half-second to realize what was really going on. He didn't say anything and it just took a little (time) to realize what he had. Walking towards him is not a decision I might make again, but it's what happened. I moved the barrel to the side, and then the next shot went off.
JESSE: I looked over and my friend Josh was wrestling into the girls' washroom maybe 30 feet straight across from us and they hit the girls' washroom door and there was another loud bang. I didn't even realize it was a gun, (apparently) the (karaoke) DJ said it was a gun, not into the microphone. He just said "Holy shit! That guy's got a gun!" out loud— this is what we heard from another party afterwards.
JOSH: I kneed him in the groin and then my friends came up behind us and we kind of helped each other to bring him to the ground.
JESSE: I just rushed him because I saw my buddy scrapping this guy in the girls' bathroom and as soon as I got there I realized he had a gun and they were fighting over the gun and they hit the floor and my buddy landed on top of him.
JOSH: We were in the female bathroom on the ground with the barrel to the wall.
JESSE: At the time it was Josh who was the first guy in and I was the second guy in and my friend Joey Duong came over and started assaulting him trying to get the gun away and finally, there were four of us, some other guy came in.
JOEY: Josh had (the gunman) from the hip down and so I grabbed him by the head. My left hand was hanging on to the barrel.
JESSE: From what I remember he had his head and he had his hands and I just grabbed the gun and we all were fighting to get the gun away from his hands.
JOSH: We weren't really sure where his finger was, so the whole time I was waiting for another shot to go off and at that time we've got (all these) people involved including myself on the floor and a gun in the middle of us.
JOEY: He was fighting back so I gave him a few (hits) to make sure he would give up the gun.
JOSH: Will it go off? Will it not? How can we get this out of his hands? He isn't quitting.
JESSE: The gun popped out of his hands and I just was kind of in shock but I turned around, walked out and gave it to the bartender and told him to call 911.
JOEY: Jesse grabbed the rifle and we knew that we were safe.
JESSE: We went back in and we just pinned him and the cops were there in two minutes.
JOSH: I wouldn't have been able to do (alone) what we all did together. It comes down to the decision on everyone's part.
JOEY: We had a little bruise here and a little bruise there and a little bit of blood, but we would do it again.
JOSH: There's not going to be another chance. You have one moment. I think I'd (react) the same if I had a chance to, and I hope somebody else would too.
JOEY: We are here to help each other.
JOSH: I'm really happy all we got was a scratch and it could have been a lot worse.
A 25-year-old man is facing several charges in connection to the incident. A rifle was found at the scene, according to police.
This piece was derived from transcripts of interviews with CTV News, lightly edited for length and clarity.
With files from CTV News Saskatoon's Carla Shynkaruk
