When a man holding a gun came to the door of the St. Paul bar where Eric Wasson is a security guard, Wasson was determined not to let the man get past him.
Wasson tried to defuse the situation by smiling at the man and saying, "Hey, what's going on?" He also told the man to calm down.
The man told Wasson to move and raised his gun, Wasson recalled.
Wasson worried about the more than 150 people inside Johnny Baby's on University Avenue, and he rushed the man, whose gun went off twice as they struggled. No one was struck.
"God is good," Wasson said with a smile after St. Paul Police Chief Thomas Smith presented him Wednesday with the highest award he can give a citizen, the Chief's Award for Valor.
"Mr. Wasson you were indeed a hero that evening," Smith told him about the Sept. 21 incident. Police said the gunman was convicted in federal court.
"We don't know what that suspect may have done if he was allowed inside of the bar.
You displayed a great amount of courage when you chose to disarm the suspect and protect the customers in the bar."
Smith told Wasson's children, ages 4 and 9, who were at the award ceremony: "Be very proud of your daddy."