When a gunman opened fire on Monday night, UFC fighter Kevin Holland and friend Patrick Robinson were dining with two women at a restaurant in the Highland Village neighborhood of Houston, Texas.
According to KPRC 2, 40 to 50 people were inside the RA Sushi restaurant when the incident occurred at around 11:30 p.m. A suspect named Jesus Edray Cardiel Samaniego pulled out the weapon and started shooting in the air. While the customers ran for cover, Holland and Robinson sprang into action and tackled Samaniego to the ground.
“We just quickly hopped on it, got to the shooter, got him down,” Robinson said. “He had a backpack on him. We got the backpack away from him because we didn’t know what was in the backpack. And pretty much everything went well from there. Next thing you know, you just hear a ‘pop,’ and then everybody started getting down.”
The fighter added, “Everybody started getting down. Next thing you know, me and my buddy– we ran to the shooter, got him down, strangled him, took the gun from him, and then called the police. Police came and got him.”
An MMA fan shared multiple reports of the UFC fighter during his previous acts of heroism, including when he took down a car thief last October.
The official Twitter page @KevinHolland retweeted a video initially posted from the @trailblaze2top Instagram account. Holland and Robinson were in the video as they stood outside in the restaurant parking lot, explaining the incident that night.
This was Kevin Holland's reaction shortly after he and a friend took down a gunman Monday night at a restaurant in Houston.
Full story: https://t.co/OynF23aZqi
(🎥 @Trailblaze2top / @ko_reps) pic.twitter.com/YxN2WdtPXI
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) March 15, 2022
Officials said there were no injuries reported. However, the 24-year-old reportedly had narcotics on him during the shooting, police said.
Samaniego was charged on Tuesday with deadly conduct and carrying a handgun in a motor vehicle.
According to criminal records, Samaniego, a native of Mexico, has been arrested multiple times since 2016.
