Who is Thomas Giberti? Former bowling alley manager was shot 7 times while saving children in Maine mass shooting
LEWISTON, MAINE: Thomas Giberti, 69, is a former manager of Just-in-Time Recreation bowling alley, who was present there on the night of October 25 during the Maine mass shooting incident.
He had the opportunity of retreating to safety through the back door when the incident broke out, but instead, he chose to run towards the danger and ended up helping save the lives of at least eight children.
Giberti was shot seven times in the legs and had to undergo multiple surgeries.
What happened with Thomas Giberti on the night of October 25?
According to The Messenger, Giberti was at the bowling alley to watch the Youth Bowling League with his longtime friend, Bob Violet, who was the league’s coach.
He had gone out through a back door to get a screwdriver to fix a piece of equipment, and upon his return saw the children in danger.
Speaking with WCVB, Will Bourgault, Giberti’s nephew, recalled his uncle's experience of the night.
"As he was coming back out the door to go back into the bowling alley, he saw flashes of light and realized hearing the gunshots that somebody was shooting in there and people were running in all kinds of different directions and stuff."
Looking over to the area where the children had been bowling across six lanes, Gilbert saw them "hunkered down trying to hide from the gunman.”
He was "able to get their attention and called to them and the kids ran across the lanes and got to where he was at and as he got them out the back doors so they could get out into the back parking lot in the back," continued Bourgault.
In the effort, Giberti was shot in the back of his left leg and fell in the doorway. As he tried to crawl out of the place, he was shot in the leg for a total of 7 times.
An eyewitness states that his friend Violet was shot in his chest trying to protect his wife and died at the scene. The same round struck his wife, who succumbed at the hospital.
Thomas Giberti was rushed to the hospital
Even after multiple surgeries, some of the bullets that got lodged into muscle remain inside him.
His nephew visited him at the hospital.
"I said, 'Tom — you're a hero to us — what you did was heroic.' He said — 'no I just reacted.' I said, 'Tom, that's what heroes do; they just react. You know you could have run out the back door. You could have saved yourself without getting shot. You could have just taken off. You could have frozen back there, but you didn't; you went for it. You got the attention of those kids. Those kids were able to get out safely because of what you did,'" Bourgault said.
Gilberti's family said that he was discharged from the hospital three days after the shooting, and is now up and walking with the assistance of a walker.
A GoFundMe page has been created to help offset lost wages and medical expenses.
