A good Samaritan was repeatedly shot while trying to save his friend from a fatal armed robbery during a Seattle street takeover — just for store workers and passersby to film them as he begged for help, according to his family.
Matthew Lanske, 21, stumbled across the illegal street takeover in Belltown in the early hours of Sept. 6 when a man and woman pulled a gun to rob one of his friends, Isaac Elijah Rios, 20, according to Fox 13.
Lanske jumped in to help when shots were fired, fatally striking Rios — one of three people killed in the neighborhood in a 24-hour period, the outlet said.
Lanske was shot twice in the stomach and once in the pelvis, which shattered and struck a major artery. Despite the injuries, he pursued the gunman until he ran into a nearby convenience store for help.
But instead of offering any assistance, they shut the doors and filmed him on their phones as he bled, Lanske’s mother, Shanda Barney, told Fox 13.
“He looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, ‘Mom, they wouldn’t let me in. They locked the doors. I begged them to let me, and there was so much blood coming out of my stomach, I thought I was going to die.’”
“What breaks my heart almost as much as the shooting itself is knowing that while my son was fighting for his life, people were standing around filming him, taking pictures instead of helping him,” she added.
Rios’ aunt recounted a similar tale of callous bystanders who refused to help the wounded men in a GoFundMe raising money for funeral expenses for the former high school football player.
“In those terrifying moments, Isaac and his friend were shot and left to die, all while being filmed,” Beneta Lal wrote on the webpage. “Isaac was found on the sidewalk, bleeding and fighting for his life … despite every effort to save him, he did not survive.”
Lanske was rushed to the hospital and awoke up after multiple surgeries to learn that Rios had died.
“He has, I feel like, survivor’s guilt, you know,” Lanske’s sister Brooklynne Lanske told KOMO news. “He wanted to save his friend so bad, and he woke up to so many changes.”
Both families are demanding justice and asking witnesses to contact police. Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound offers a $1,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest.
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