Friends rally behind Houston man facing surgeries, uncertain future after engaging gunman

Byron Wilson, pictured with his wife and son, is being hailed as a Good Samaritan for engaging a killer during a weekend rampage.

Friends of a Houston man who grabbed his gun and tried to stop a shooter who terrorized a Houston suburb Sunday are rallying to his side, and praising him as a hero.

Byron Wilson was shot three times, twice in the legs and once in the shoulder, while trying to stop the rampage of Dionsio Garza. Wilson engaged Garza, before getting wounded, then managed to crawl to a nearby business and call his wife. He faces a long recovery and an uncertain future, according to friends, who have launched a GoFundMe page to help him pay his medical bills.

“The generosity and kind words [are] overwhelming for the Wilson family,” Angie Guerra wrote on the online appeal she set up for Wilson and his family. “On their behalf, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for donating and sharing.”

More than $25,000 has been raised online for Wilson's medical bills. (GoFundMe)

A close friend of the family, Guerra told local news station KHOU said that Wilson and his wife were trying to start a business before the incident and now find themselves facing mounting medical bills.

“He was the good guy, and it sucks when the good guy is the one that gets hurt,” she told the news station. “The whole world kind of came down on them with this happening.”

So far, Guerra has helped to raise nearly $25,000, half of their goal. Wilson has already been through several surgeries and blood transfusions.

Garza, an Army veteran from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., opened fire Sunday at tire store in West Houston, according to Fox11 Los Angeles, spraying 212 rounds at innocent bystanders and police. Eugene Linscomb, 56, was killed and six, including one police officer and Wilson, were injured.

Garza's family told KPRC TV in Houston that "something snapped" in him following two tours in Afghanistan. They said his condition worsened in the weeks before he traveled to Houston to visit an Army friend.

Cops first on the scene initially thought Wilson may have been the shooter, but it was quickly determined that the concealed-carry permit holder had opened fire on Garza in an attempt to subdue him.

“He could have prevented more people from being shot,’ Guerra told KHOU. "He’s a hero, even though he was shot. He’s a hurting hero.”