Jason Aaron Strunk, Seth Robert Bond, and Leslie E. Shaffer

A 23-year-old mother and her three young children were walking along an Akron, Ohio, sidewalk on June 16, 2019, when the mother’s ex-partner, armed with a handgun, approached them and shot the mother in the back. Jason Aaron Strunk, Seth Robert Bond, and Leslie E. Shaffer were in vehicles nearby and saw the mother attempting to shield her children; they drove to the scene. Strunk, a 38-year-old group home supervisor of Canton, Ohio, exited his vehicle and positioned himself between the mother and the gunman. Bond, 26, of Tallmadge, Ohio, left his vehicle and ran to the mother, removing his shirt and holding it against her wound. The assailant reached around Strunk and shot the mother a second time, then pointed the gun at Bond’s head as he continued to render aid. Strunk grasped the assailant’s gunwielding arm and struggled with him to obtain control of the gun. Bond joined the struggle, the gun discharging once toward the ground, until the assailant lost control of it and it fell to the ground. The assailant then produced a knife. Strunk put two of the children in his car. Shaffer, a 31-year-old certified nursing aide of Akron, who had also responded to the scene and was nearby when the gun discharged, took Gray and the other child into her vehicle. Strunk and Shaffer drove from the scene while Bond continued to fight with the assailant, who eventually fled. He was chased by Bond and police, but he ultimately fatally shot himself. The mother was hospitalized but recovered. The rescuers and children were unharmed.

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