When it comes down to it, do you think that you would be capable of doing the right thing even if it meant putting your own life on the line? Well, we don't need to ask 27-year-old David Trivelpiece of Oregon that question anymore.
He had been out on the town with a few friends in late November when he heard a series of gunshots. Without even questioning the danger of what he was about to do, he ran off in the direction of the shots hoping to be able to help whoever was in trouble.
It turns out that he made the right choice. When he got to the scene of the shooting, he saw that two men had been fighting after one severely intoxicated man, 67-year-old Richard Mershon, had pushed a pregnant woman to the ground. It was during the initial altercation that the two shots that Trivelpiece heard had been fired, both missing their target.
When Trivelpiece ran across the street to try and stop the mayhem, Mershon squeezed off another shot, this one hitting Trivelpiece in the neck.
"That's totally him. He knows that if someone's in trouble, he'd step in," said Ambria Newton, Trivelpiece's sister-in-law.
The community has taken notice of the sacrifice that Trivelpiece was willing to make, and they have rallied around the family in order to help support his recovery.
Trivelpiece was initially listed as being in critical condition and doctors weren't sure if he was going to survive the shooting, but thankfully his condition has managed to be stabilized and it looks like he will make a full recovery.
A GoFundMe page was set up by his sister-in-law Ambria Newton, and it quickly shot past it's goal of $20,000. Currently the page has seen donations reach over $24,000 and other community members have set themselves to helping in other ways.
"The way people have rallied around us and supported us, we couldn't be more grateful and we definitely feel so blessed to have that support," said Newton. "It definitely makes us just so proud of him."
Check out the full news story in the video below.
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