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Survivor shares new details about Waffle House shooting

Posted at 2:59 PM, Jul 15, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-15 14:59:21-04

News4 is getting never-before-heard details from a man who watched the murder of four people at an Antioch Waffle House.

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Sneed says he hopes he can reconnect with some of the others inside the Waffle House that night. He feels it could be healing.

The carnage happened nearly three months ago and still haunts Tre Sneed.

“Once I took a bite, we heard a pop,” Sneed said.

Sneed dreams about that morning on April 22 even when he’s not sleeping.

“If I am home and I am washing dishes, sometimes I think bullets are flying through the window,” Sneed said.

Police say the whole thing lasted 42 seconds, but it felt a lot longer to Sneed.

“You’ve got two minutes to live in a Waffle House from when the clock starts, and after two minutes, if you’re still standing in the next place you’re dead. Go,” Sneed explained.

He remembers hiding low to the ground with his friend and the dishwasher.

“She was on the ground screaming and rolling around and I was like, ‘Shh, we have a good hiding spot. You’re going to give us up,’” Sneed said.

He remembers bullets.

“The next bullet or two was so close,” Sneed said. “I saw concrete chunks flying off the wall behind my me head. I thought I was hit then.”

Sneed will never forget the moment James Shaw stepped in and saved everyone.

“James Shaw was going toe-to-toe with the dude, and the shooter was against the counter and he was struggling with him,” Sneed recalled.

Before then, there was no escape. A bathroom door was locked. The back door was locked.

“We just couldn’t go anywhere we were just trying to find some sort of space,” Sneed said.

Now he’s thanking his savior and a stranger.

“It was God and James Shaw Jr,” Sneed said.

Every day he reminds himself he was one of the lucky ones.

“My heart is so heavy for those people’s parents,” Sneed said. “It could have easily been my mom.”

Sneed says he hopes he can reconnect with some of the others inside the Waffle House that night. He feels it could be healing.