He says he wasn’t scared, but it affected him.
Frederick, Md (KM) The double shooting Tuesday morning in Frederick is an experience that will live with one man for a while. Garett Wagner of Boonsboro is the operations manager of Nicolock Paving Stones on Progress Court in Frederick. On that morning, he says he was in the conference room speaking with a sales representative when one of the victims came to the front door.
“He runs in and he’s covered with blood,” Wagner says. “It’s smeared on his face. I don’t know if one of the shots went through his chest and his shoulder and out the back. He’s just covered in blood. The back of him is covered blood. And he says literally he’s been shot. He needs our help. The shooter is still following him or chasing him or something.”
Wagner says he told the man to go into the bathroom and shut the door. His employees Bill and Mike, locked the door, and Wagner says he tried to make sure all of his employees are safe, along with those individuals who had come to pick up product from Nicolock.
“The police showed up across the street first. Bill ran outside, put himself in harms’ way again, not knowing if the shooter’s still out there, and to wave these guys down to bring them back where this gentleman was lying in our bathroom,” Wagner says.
Fire and rescue personnel showed up to treat the victim, and he was transported to Shock Trauma. That victim was later identified as Navy Hospitalman Casey Nutt, 26, of Germantown. He was treated and released from the hospital Tuesday evening.
Throughout this whole experience, Wagner says he was not afraid. “Did I think the shooter was around? He possibly could have been,” he said. “But all I could think about was getting my guys that were just spread throughout our entire facility and get ’em safe. And then get back up front to see what was going on with this young man.”
But he says he will not forget the fear in that man’s eyes. “I’ve never seen another human being that scared in their face in my entire life,” Wagner said. “You see it in movies, but to see it a person take all that in in that little bit of time that you have to help this person. It’s something you can’t forget. I can’t get his face out of my head.”
Mass shooting are something you may read about, or hear or see on the news, but Wagner says it’s quite different when it happens close to home.. “It was overwhelming. It was overwhelming for myself. It was overwhelming for Bill and Mike. It’s something you don’t see,” he said.
Even though he would like to forget this experience and move on, Wagner says it’s not easy. “My little brother whose military actually reached out to me to this morning because he did his four tours and he’s having a tough time himself. He told me I need to talk to somebody. He said ‘I get you’re my older brother. You play tough. But you need to talk to somebody/’ I’m trying to keep it pent up, but {whew!},” he said.
By Kevin McManus