Waffle House Hero James Shaw Meets Parkland Survivors
(CNN) — It was a meeting of the mutual admiration society.
The man who stopped a mass shooting at a Waffle House met Saturday with Parkland, Florida, students who want to prevent mass shootings everywhere.
James Shaw Jr., hailed as a hero for wrestling a gun from a shooter at a Nashville-area Waffle House last month, tweeted photos of his meeting Saturday with survivors of February's mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
"Meeting the young adults of the Parkland incident so much fire and inspiration in their eyes was a great joy," Shaw tweeted after the breakfast meeting in Florida. "I met one of my heros today."
Shaw set up a GoFundMe campaign that has raised more than $240,000 for the families of the four people killed in the April 22 Waffle House shooting and has become an advocate for shooting victims.
Parkland students David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez, who have become highly visible gun-control activists in recent months, were among the students who met Shaw.
"This was the Most Legendary Breakfast ive ever had in my life," Gonzalez tweeted. Hogg also tweeted a photo of himself posing with Shaw, saying "lots of work ahead but the young people will win."
The meeting marks a sort of full-circle moment for Shaw and Gonzalez. Last month rapper Kanye West applauded Gonzalez, describing her on Twitter as "my hero." In what appeared to be a response to West, Gonzalez tweeted a photo of Shaw about 20 minutes later, calling him "my hero."
— Faith Karimi
The-CNN-Wire
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