CORDELE, Ga. — On Oct. 22, 2022 at 10:30 p.m., two Crisp County Sheriff Deputies were called to 16 East Bar and Grill in Cordele. There was an active shooter with multiple victims wounded.
The deputies "without mental reservation of mind" rushed into the restaurant knowing there was a shooting and "quickly" worked to get people out, tend to the wounded and arrest the shooter, according to a press release from the Crisp County Sheriff's Office.
They arrested the shooting "within minutes of the first rounds fired."
In total, four people were shot, the Cordele Police Department said at the time.
Now, the deputies -- Cpl. Jack Masters and Deputy Kendall Evans -- have received the Act of Heroism Award at the Governor's Public Safety Awards Ceremony.
"They put their safety aside and ran to the threat to deal with it before any other person could be harmed," the press release from the sheriff's office said.
The Governor's Public Safety Awards Program was initiated in 1998 to give "an opportunity for the men and women in the public safety family to be recognized for outstanding service to their community," the press release said.
The man accused of the shooting, 42-year-old Bryant Lamar Collins, was from Michigan, and he faces four counts of aggravated assault.
"They put their safety aside and ran to the threat to deal with it before any other person could be harmed," the press release said. "This a testament to the Crisp County Sheriff’s Office motto of 'Service Before Self.'”
The sheriff's department said that Evans and Masters stepped up the plate to serve their community in a time when their community needed it most.
"Deputy Evans and Corporal Masters displayed an act of extraordinary heroism at the imminent personal hazard of life in the intelligent performance of Law Enforcement Duty," they said.