Local police said James Shaw Jr saved "many lives" after he courageously wrestled a weapon from a gunman who opened fire in a Waffle House and killed four people in the southern US state of Tennessee.
Police spokesman Don Aaron told a televised news briefing that Reinking had arrived in a pickup truck, and opened fire on people gathered outside the restaurant.
He then went inside the restaurant where more shots were fired, and a patron was hit, before someone was able to grab his rifle from him, Mr Aaron said.
"He is the hero here, and no doubt he saved many lives by wrestling the gun away and then tossing it over the counter, and prompting the man to leave," Mr Arron told CNN.
Mr Shaw Jr spoke to the media following a trip to the hospital for an injury and said he monitored the gunman's movements inside the Waffle House before he wrestled the rifle away.
"If it was going to come down to it he was going to have to work to kill me," Mr Shaw Jr said.
"So at the time he was either reloading or the gun jammed, I ran through the swivel door and hit him with the swivel door and then the gun was kind of jammed up and pushed down and we were scuffling.
"And I managed to get one hand on the gun and I grabbed it from him and threw it over the countertop. After that I was trying to get out of the door and I think he was in the entrance way, so I just took him out with me and all the way outside."
Police units were still hunting for a seminude gunman on the run after a pre-dawn shooting at the Waffle House.
