Walkerston shooting victim recounts moments before he was shot outside O’Shea’s Hotel

The man who heroically broke up a brawl with a gunman outside a country pub recounts the horrifying moments leading up to a bullet shooting through his stomach.

The Proserpine man who was shot in the stomach after intervening in an alleged carjacking gone horribly wrong has said he would not hesitate to do it again.

“It’s the local pub,” he said.

CCTV footage show an armed man allegedly firing shots while attempting to steal a ute parked at the popular O’Shea’s pub bottle shop.

One of those bullets went straight through Nicholas Amos, a patron at the pub who heroically ran into the chaos to help after hearing the gunshots.

“I was just sitting in the main bar, when I heard a few loud bangs,” Mr Amos said.

“I thought it was fireworks or something like that, but then the next thing I know, the girls have come running in and locked all the doors.”

‘The next thing I felt was a big thump on my stomach and a big bang’. Picture: Lillian Watkins

Mr Amos heard yelling and screaming coming from outside and ran to the door to find two men wrestling on the ground outside the near the bottle shop.

He said he had hunched over to try and pull them apart, but they were too strong.

“The next thing I felt was a big thump on my stomach and a big bang,” Mr Amos said.

Police will alleged the gunman was on the ground and had fired upwards, with the bullet slicing through his abdomen and exiting out the other side.

“I grabbed the gun — I didn’t realise it was real at the time,” Mr Amos said.

“I thought it must have been a gel blaster or something like that.”

Police set up a crime scene in Walkerston after an alleged car jacking at the O'Shea's bottle shop. Picture: Lillian Watkins

Despite his wound, he and the car owner continued to wrestle the armed man on the ground, pinning his arms behind his back while the publican Andrew Guthrie gaffer-taped the man’s legs and hands.

“[It was] just the adrenaline, I didn’t want to let him get away,” Mr Amos said of his resilience.

“Was he going to stop there or was he going to keep going elsewhere?

“There was no way we were letting him go.”

Mr Amos said it was only after the gunman was secure that he began to feel the damage the bullet had done.

“Once I realised I had blood on my shirt, it hit me dramatically,” he said.

“I went down with the pain, it sort of crippled me.

“I was hanging over the bars at the bottle shop holding myself up until the ambulance got there.”

Mr Amos said the bullet went through his stomach and out his back. Picture: Lillian Watkins

Mr Amos said the bullet had gone completely through him, missing any vital organs, but the danger was not over yet with infection a dangerous possibility.

When he gets out of hospital, he said he was looking forward to returning to his local pub.

He said he could not thank the O’Shea’s owner, staff and patrons enough for their help.

“I’m sore, but I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again,” Mr Amos said.

“It’s the local pub, we’re all friends, the publican and the bar staff — they treat you like family.”

‘This was an extremely dangerous situation’. Picture: Lillian Watkins

Mr Amos actions have not gone without praise, with many witnesses calling his actions “heroic”.

Mackay Detective Inspector Tom Armitt commended the bravery of Mr Amos and others involved.

“This was an extremely dangerous situation, the members of the public who took this man into custody have acted in an extremely brave manner,” Inspector Armitt said.

“But it is not something we would encourage people to engage in, especially with people firing shots.

“It could have been a fatal outcome, it is lucky that it wasn’t.”

A 35-year-old Walkerston man was charged with attempted armed robbery and assault occasioning bodily harm while armed.

He is expected appear in Mackay Magistrates Court on Monday, September 6.

Originally published as Walkerston shooting victim recounts moments before he was shot outside O’Shea’s Hotel