Footage Shows Bar Patrons Tackling Austin Attorney After He Pulls Gun On His Ex-Girlfriend

Shortly after 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2022, 41-year-old Gavin Edward Rush went to the Anderson Mill Pub in Austin, Texas, where his ex-girlfriend was working as a bartender. She was no longer speaking to him and had started to date someone new, but he wanted to reconcile with her. He allegedly had threatened to hurt himself and her new love interest, so she stopped responding to his alarming text messages.

Rush allegedly made the trip to the bar to confront her. A surveillance video caught him dropping a bag on the bar. When his ex-girlfriend refused to talk to him, he revealed a gun and aimed it at her chest, reported My San Antonio.

Two bar patrons heroically stepped forward to try to take the gun, and they wrestled with Rush. His ex-girlfriend was standing behind the bar, and the intervening bar customers pushed him away from the bar and held him down until police officers arrived at the pub.

One of the heroic patrons told KVUE, "I don't remember doing this, but I pushed his hand up and the gun went off. Then we started flying backwards. I turned and grabbed him around the neck and another shot went off."

One of the customers was able to stop Rush from shooting himself with the gun he had, and three shots were fired altogether. One shattered the mirror that was right behind where the ex-girlfriend had been standing, and another shot barely missed the customer’s head.

Police initially arrested Rush later that same day, and he was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly assault weapon involving family violence, which was a second-degree felony. Although he was initially jailed, he was released on a $40,000 bond.

CBS Austin reported that social media users questioned how he could be released on such a small bond within 48 hours of trying to shoot his ex.

On Nov. 30, only four days after his arrest, Rush’s dead body was found by police when they were called to his home from a welfare check, reported NBC News. Foul play isn’t suspected in his death, and the investigation is ongoing.

Video credit: Mackenzie Kelly via Storyful