WASHINGTON — Stories of compassion have emerged following a deadly shooting at a D.C. Metro stop.
The Metropolitan Police Department said 31-year-old Isaiah Trotman opened fire at the Potomac Avenue Metro station Wednesday morning, ultimately killing 64-year-old Metro employee Robert Cunningham.
Just after the shooting, a train approached the platform at the Capitol Hill neighborhood station.
Maryland residents Shante Trumpet and Tyrell Knight happened to be on that train when, they said, Trotman entered its doors.
"Everyone else was in a panic and crying and saying, ‘Please don't shoot me,’ and stuff like that,” Knight said.
Knight, who happened to be heading to work at the time of the incident, made eye contact with Trotman. He said he then noticed Trotman had a gun.
“The gun was right on his lap,” he said.
But, Knight said Trotman was not paying attention to Trumpet, who was right beside him.
“The gun was my number one focus,” Trumpet said. “I didn't see anything else, but the gun."
She said she then motioned toward the firearm.
“I grabbed the gun, I remember falling and him falling on top of me,” Trumpet said. “I remember him chasing after me. I remember falling over. I remember the gun coming out of my hand, but he was subdued enough by people, that I was able to push the gun away from all of us."
Both Knight and Trotman soon left the station, but neither person knew where the other was to check up on them.
"My main focus when I got out of the train station was, 'Is she okay' because she just put her life on the line for everyone on that train," Knight said.
However, on Friday, the pair finally got the chance to reunite. They met up at Metro’s Largo station. Knight handed Trumpet a bouquet of flowers.
"She saved my life, honestly,” Knight said.
But, perhaps even just as stunning, were the series of events that led up to Trumpet being on that train in the first place.
She said she wasn’t originally supposed to be there.
"I was running late to work,” Trumpet said. “I missed the train in front of me and I was like, ‘What are the chances?’”
She also knew how to handle firearms as she had recently obtained a gun around the beginning of the pandemic.
“We had angels around us,” Trumpet said. “Definitely.”