Heroes in Tucson shooting remember tackling, holding gunman

TUCSON, AZ - Several stories of heroic efforts are emerging after Saturday's shooting in Tucson. People who put their lives at risk to stop the gunman from killing even more.

One of those people, 74-year-old Colonel Bill Badgers, was grazed in the head by a bullet fired during the rampage.

"I dropped my head about six inches and felt a burning, I knew I'd been hit," he described.

Badgers said he heard 18 to 20 shots and when the gunfire stopped he stood up, not knowing the shooter was right beside him.

That's when someone else grabbed a folding chair and hit 22-year-old Jared Loughner on the back of the head. Badgers and another man held Loughner down for five to 10 minutes until authorities arrived.

"The only this he said was 'ouch' because a man had his knee on his neck," Badgers recalled.

Colonel Badgers says he feels lucky to be alive, and knows if it wasn't for the people who took Loughner down, like 24-year-old Joe Zamudio, Loughner would have killed many more.

Zamudio was not even at the scene when the suspect opened fire, but he ran towards the spray of bullets to tackle the gunman to the ground.

"I was at the counter, and I heard the shots ring out," said Zamudio, who was on a cigarette run. "I had my hand on my gun. I was ready to just end his life."

Though Zamudio himself was armed, he did it all without pulling his gun or taking another life.

"It was horrible," said Zamudio. "It was gruesome. It was like organized mayhem -- so many people hurt, so many people crying, just people looking for loved ones, and people finding them and people not finding them, and people freaking out."

In seconds, lives were lost, victims were injured and people like Badgers and Zamudio became heroes.

"It was pretty traumatic, to know that a little girl had died there that day," said Zamudio.

Though countless others there are likely alive because of his courage, it was not enough to save them all.

"Just unconscionable," said Zamudio. "Who does that? Who thinks they have the right to go around ruining people's lives? For what? It's just horrible, a horrible, horrible thing."