Dramatic moment Texas attorney pulls out a gun on bartender ex-girlfriend, gets tackled

A Texas attorney purportedly trying and failing to rekindle a relationship allegedly pulled a gun on his bartender ex-girlfriend in a potentially deadly incident caught on surveillance video.

Two heroic patrons at the bar where she worked fortunately intervened to stop what could have been a catastrophe in the encounter that occurred last Saturday around noon local time in Austin.

Three shots were allegedly fired, but luckily no one was hit by a bullet.

Despite being charged with a second-degree felony, suspect Gavin Rush, 41, is reportedly back out on the street, after being required to post 10 percent of a $40,000 bond.

“For four grand, you can get out, go home, watch Netflix, after trying to murder your ex-girlfriend — are you kidding me?,” one of the Good Samaritans rhetorically wondered in an interview with ABC Austin affiliate KVUE.

The bartender told cops that Rush was allegedly upset that she was dating another man after breaking things off with him after three years.

“He wanted to get back together, and when she refused, police say he sent several texts threatening to harm her and her new partner,” Fox 7 Austin reported. She reportedly stopped responding to his messages.

In the purported video, Rush allegedly showed up at the bar and was rebuffed when he tried to speak with his former paramour.

“When she said ‘no,’ he pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the woman’s chest, activating a laser sight on her, according to the [police] affidavit,” KVUE reported.

Watch the dramatic video:

Quick-reacting customers immediately tackled and subdued the suspect until cops responded.

“One of the customers said Rush attempted to shoot himself in the head as they were going to the ground, but the man stuck his finger in between the trigger and the guard to keep it from going off.  He said three shots were fired in total, one shattering the mirror right behind the ex-girlfriend, another barely missing his head,” the ABC outlet noted.

Authorities charged the lawyer with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon involving family violence, along with a court-imposed emergency order of protection against him.

About five years ago, Rush allegedly had a run-in with the law, KVUE claimed. He “was previously charged with assault/family violence by impeding breath/circulation in 2017 regarding a different woman in Williamson County. That case was eventually dismissed upon completion of anger management counseling.”

The tavern is located in the area represented by Austin Councilwoman Mackenize Kelly, who took a dim view of how things were handled. “This attorney belongs behind bars, pending a lengthy jury of his peers,” she wrote on Twitter.

Austin, which is the county seat of Travis County, is a liberal enclave in the red state.

Reacting to the aftermath of the incident that occurred a the Anderson Mill Pub in the northwest part of the city, Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza (who is reportedly a member of the Democratic Socialists of America), told CBS Austin that “Under state law and under local practice, the District Attorney’s Office and prosecutors generally are not present at the setting of bail. That is something that municipal judges do without input from the District Attorney’s Office.”

Thomas Villareal, the head of the Austin Police Association, condemned the decision to allow the suspect to bond out of jail so fast. “It is absolutely inexcusable for a man who tried to murder his ex-girlfriend to be released from jail with 2 days of the attempted murder,” he wrote, in part.

The suspect is no longer employed at an Austin law firm, his former office confirmed.

Watch a report on the incident aired by KVUE:

All suspects are presumed innocent until or unless they are convicted in a court of law of any alleged crimes.

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