Merconie Clark suddenly found himself wrestling with a gunman. Darius Alston came to help.
Gunshots had just been fired in the Smith’s grocery store at East Silverado Ranch Boulevard and Maryland Parkway where Clark and Alston, who had never met each other before Tuesday, had been shopping. Police would later say that the shooter killed a woman who was the mother of his children and her current partner.
But the suspected killer didn’t get away — thanks to the bravery of several bystanders, police said. The good Samaritans who jumped into action to stop the gunman included Clark and Alston, who subdued the shooter until officers arrived.
Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Robert Price on Tuesday said Clark, Alston and one other person who helped ensure the suspected killer’s capture showed “tremendous courage.”
The shooter was taken to a local hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, police said.
In the moments after the shots rang out, Clark, 49, a Southern California truck driver, said he headed toward the store’s pharmacy section in a bid to get to safety. “There’s the shooter!” a staffer yelled.
“I don’t know what happened,” Clark said. “I just walk over towards him, and he pulls out his gun, and we start wrestling for the gun.”
Like in a Hollywood movie, Clark and the shooter each tried to get the gun pointed toward the other person. Clark yelled for help, which came in the form of Alston, a 28-year-old former high school football running back.
“That’s when Darius hit him, keeps striking him, and keeps him on the ground,” Clark said. “That’s when I pulled the other weapons away. I didn’t even know at the time he had a backpack full of other weapons.”
Clark credited Alston, a Las Vegas barber, with saving his life.
“If Darius hadn’t come to help me, I would have been gone,” Clark said. “When that employee said that was the guy, I knew I wasn’t letting him leave. That’s not what we do.”
Alston’s former football coach at Liberty High School in Henerson, Rich Muraco, said he saw media coverage of the shooting Tuesday afternoon, including a clip of Alston, a 2016 Liberty graduate, being interviewed.
“It’s pretty amazing what he did,” Muraco said. “Darius was a great kid, a hard worker and a happy kid, and for him to do that, it says a lot about his character. I’m really proud of him.”
Clark, who was about to pick up a load for Amazon to bring to California, had gone into the store to get a few items for his trip. Alston, who was working at the nearby Diamond Cutz Barbershop, went to help the mother of his children, Hanna Manker, and their two kids — ages 1 and 3 — do their shopping.
“Their dad actually is the hometown hero today,” Manker said.
The two men said they didn’t necessarily feel like heroes, but they certainly created a bond between two people who decided to run toward trouble, not away from it.
“When I called out for help, (Darius) came,” said Clark, who had bandages on his hand and shoulder, though he said the injuries weren’t serious. “He didn’t even think. I feel like we were just doing what we’re supposed to do.”
Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X.
