Hero Construction Worker Followed Empire State Shooter

"He just calmly turned around and walked away and I wasn't letting him get away," Brian Dillon told NBC 4 New York Sunday

Brian Dillon was working on a loading dock near the Empire State Building Friday morning, when he witnessed Jeffrey Johnson pump five bullets into his former co-worker Steven Ercolino.

"He just calmly turned around and walked away and I wasn't letting him get away," Dillon told NBC 4 New York Sunday. "I had to do what I had to do"

Concerned the well-dressed gunman would blend into the crowd and get away, Dillon, 44, followed Johnson down 33rd Street and onto 5th Avenue, despite pleas from his co-workers to stop.

"I knew when he made the left the police would be there and that's all I was hoping for,” Dillon said. “I checked their car. They were against the wall, so that's why I screamed at them."

Police shot and killed Johnson, a disgruntled former accessories designer, after he pulled out the handgun. Nine bystanders were also injured by police bullets.

Dillon said he never thought about his own safety, instead he was focusing on the thousands of people who were gathered outside the iconic skyscraper.

“I feel like someone else could have died. That's not supposed to happen,” Dillon said. “You get up in the morning, you go home at night, you don't die from bullets."

Outside his Westchester home Sunday, Dillon humbly shrugged off any suggestions he's a hero.
 
“I feel like i did the right thing,” Dillon said. “I feel the police are the heroes. They are the ones who confronted the guy. I didn’t confront him, I just pointed him out."

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