Lawrence Adams, Seattle Shooting Hero, Credited With Saving 3 Lives

After a gunman opened fire at a Seattle cafe on Wednesday, one customer got up and threw bar stools at him, allowing three patrons to escape safely.

The brave man has been identified as Lawrence Adams, the Seattle Times reports. Adams, 56, vowed to "never hide behind a table" after his brother, Stephen, was killed in the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks.

"I just threw the frigging stool at him, legs first," he told the police. "My brother died in the World Trade Center. I promised myself, if something like this ever happened, I would never hide under a table."

Adams was enjoying a cup of coffee at Cafe Racer when he saw the suspect, Ian Stawicki, come in. When Stawicki was asked to leave the establishment, he opened fire.

"I hear the pop, pop, and people scrambling. I couldn’t make sense of it. I didn’t expect the gun to be that quiet. I thought ‘this is really happening,'" Adams told the police.

"The hero picked up a stool and threw it at the suspect. Hit him. Picked up another stool, as the suspect is shooting and now pointing (a gun) at him and hits him with another stool," Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel told The Associated Press. "During that time, two or possibly three, people made their escape. He saved three lives."

Adams, however, insists that he's not the hero everyone is making him out to be. He pointed, instead, to Cafe Racer employee Leonard Meuse, who called for help despite his injuries.

"The hero is Leonard," Adams said. "He had the presence of mind as the captain of the ship to do his job. He just kept doing his job," Adams said, according to KIRO TV.

Other stories of heroism and courage are emerging in the aftermath of the horrific shootings. The Seattle Times also wrote about Jo Ann Stemler, who rushed to the side of a woman who was shot in the head.

"I didn't think we could save her when we started working on her, but that wasn't the point. I knew that her family would not have wanted her to die alone," Stemler told the news source.

Despite the risk of getting shot, Stemler, along with another woman, performed chest compressions on the victim, Gloria Koch Leonidas.