GASTONIA, NC – A man wielding a knife is shot after attacking a convenience store clerk. Tonight that employee is thankful to be alive and for the police detective he says saved his life.
“A lot of stuff happened right in a wrong situation. Cause I shouldn’t be here,” says Ryan Sherwood.
Sherwood says a Gastonia Police Detective was in the right place at the right time Saturday night. The assistant manager at the QuikTrip on East Long Street was working behind the counter when he says 46-year-old Brady Hines came in and attacked him with a knife.
“I was scrambling to get off and away from him. That was the moment where I thought it was over. Because there was nothing I could do at that point,” he says.
That’s when Detective Jeff Wooten, who just happened to be in the store, stepped in an pulled the attacker off, shooting and injuring him after a confrontation. “There’s no reason that I should be here.
But he stepped in. And I was lucky he was there,” Sherwood says.
Tonight Hines remains in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Sherwood doesn’t understand what motivated the attack, from a man he recognized as a regular customer.
“I mean there was no provocation, at least it would make sense if there was some kind of disagreement at some point. But he’s always.. been in, got his stuff,” he says.
We’ve learned Brady Hines has spent more than 15 years in prison. He was just recently released in 2012 on a 2nd Degree Murder charge from Buncombe County in 1998.
