The man who challenged Kroger shooter Gregory Alan Bush just wanted to make it home to his son.
Dominiic and Kiera Rozier were at the Jeffersontown, Kentucky, Kroger to pick up some party supplies. October 24 was their son’s birthday. It was also the day Bush stormed into the store and killed Maurice Stallard and Vickie Lee Jones.
Although someone warned them about the shooting as they walked in, it was too late for them to leave. As Bush walked out of the store, the couple witnessed Jones’ last moments.
"I heard her say (on the phone), 'These people are shooting. They're crazy. I just want to get home, Lord. Let me get home,'" Kiera told The Courier-Journal. "He looked at her, and he kind of grinned, and he just shot her. That's when I froze."
Bush pointed the gun at Kiera, and Dominiic sprang into action. He pulled his gun and fired at Bush.
"I was doing it to protect me and my wife," he said.
The 27-year-old also wanted to make sure his son’s birthday wasn’t permanently ruined.
"If I would have died … my wife would be burying me the next week, and then she would always have that to live with on our son's birthday," Dominiic Rozier said. "That don't sit well with me."
No one was injured in the shootout, and Bush drove off before the police apprehended him. On Wednesday, he was indicted on two counts of murder, one count of criminal attempted murder and two counts of first-degree wanton endangerment. Bush was also charged with attempted murder by "manifesting extreme indifference to human life."
Bush has a documented history of mental illness, but Kiera doesn’t think it should affect his punishment.
"If you go to a church before Kroger, if you have children of your own and you're stable enough to get a gun, to drive, to talk, to function … I feel like you're competent," Kiera said. "He knew what he did."
Rozier will not be charged. Although the couple left without any physical injuries, life after the shooting hasn’t been easy.
"It was just traumatizing for me … and to see that lady fall that close to me … it's just been a hard week for me to get back to my regular life," Kiera said. "It just makes it hard to function as if everything is normal."
The couple moved from their native Detroit in the hopes of surrounding themselves with Southern hospitality. The shooting has shattered their sense of security.
"Nowhere is safe, so that now just leaves me with always keeping my head on a swivel," Dominiic said. I "cherish every day, especially with my kids and my wife."
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