PITTSBURGH — A 30-year-old veteran is speaking out about the night he faced a gunman at a Pittsburgh nightclub, and is being credited with saving lives.
Tyler Neff was shot five times and continued to hold the suspect down until police arrived. Officers arrested 55-year-old William Samuels, who they say was homeless.
Neff said he was getting ready to leave Club Pittsburgh around 2 a.m. on Nov. 22, grabbing his coat, when he saw Samuels step off the elevator, gun pointed.
“He stepped off the elevator with a weird creepy smile on his face. I didn’t have a chance to have a conversation with him,” Neff said.
“I went at him. I charged him. He started firing, got a couple rounds off, and then once he stopped firing, I brought him to the ground and held him there. We fought on the ground. “I’m bleeding out at this point and thinking to myself, ‘you have to use just enough energy to keep him from getting the upper hand and keep him from getting away’. I didn’t want him hurting anyone else.”
Neff said approximately fifteen minutes later Pittsburgh Police arrived and he blacked out, having already lost so much blood. He was shot three times in the torso and once in each arm. He has had multiple major organ surgeries but says it is his arm wound that almost killed him.
“This one severed my artery. They had to open my arm up because all the blood went here, it swelled up, so they didn’t have to amputate it.”
Neff is a local musician and has played the drums his whole life. He hasn’t been able to use his hand or arm yet, and not ready to pick up drumsticks. He starts occupational therapy soon and is praying for a full recovery.
“I was told they didn’t expect me to survive the night, nobody gave me any chance of surviving it.”
Tyler’s mom started a GoFundMe page to help with his hospital bills. She calls her son a hero.
“A gunman who’s intentions were to be an active shooter, walked into an adult club in Pittsburgh; when he did he happened upon my son, whose quick thinking, sheer bravery, and gallantry, was demonstrated when he confronted the gunman immediately, and although the man shot him multiple times, my son still managed to continue fighting this man to both defend himself and others, yet also prevent the gunman from escaping, regrouping, or reloading.
Samuels is charged with attempted homicide and is in the Allegheny County jail.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
©2024 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/XCUXZC2XYZHCRGNNGKFEX6U3LQ.png)
