Meet Chris Mintz, the Oregon Shooting Hero

Last Thursday saw another tragic shooting in the United States. When a 26-year old student opened fire at Umpqua Community College, college student, ex-veteran, and former high school football player Chris Mintz bravely charged at him, saving innocents that could have been slain in the school, CNN detailed.

Casualties from Thursday's shootout included nine people who were mercilessly killed and nine others who were injured. Thirty-year-old Mintz, was shot seven times when he approached the killer in a courageous move to save the others, reports The Daily Beast.

Oregon shooting witness Hannah Miles told ABC News about Mintz's act of bravery. "He ran to the library and pulled the alarms and he was telling people to run, grabbing people, telling them, 'You just have to go,'" witness Miles told ABC News as cited by Yahoo News.

"He actually ran back towards the building where the shooting was and he ran back into the building and I don't know what happened to him," she adds.

On the same dreadful day of the Oregon shooting, Mintz son Tyrik is celebrating his 6^th birthday. 

Wanda Mintz, Chris' aunt, narrates what happened to CNN affiliate Fox 8 in High Point, North Carolina: "[He] tries to block the door to keep the gunman from coming in," "Gets shot three times," Mintz's aunt says. "Hits the floor."

"Looks up at the gunman and says, 'It's my son's birthday today,' " his aunt says, as per CNN.

The gunman showed no mercy and shot Mintz once more. There were no confirmed statements as to how many but it resulted in Mintz having two broken legs.

"When I found out he had been transferred to the hospital, I immediately tried calling him," Mintz's cousin Derek Bourgeois told CNN. "His ex-girlfriend was with him."

According to The Daily Beast, cousins Bourgeois and Mintz both joined the Army right after graduating high school - having been stationed at Fort Bragg and Fort Lewis, respectively. The two have also been deployed. When Mintz left, he moved to Oregon and was reported to have practiced a "bit of mixed martial arts." He enrolled at the community college to become a fitness trainer.

Bourgeois told CNN that Mintz was shot in the back, stomach, hands, and legs. "When I asked him how he was doing, he immediately said, 'People died,' and lost it crying."

Mintz was also under the impression that he only had five bullet wounds. "His ex-girlfriend actually corrected him while he was on the phone with me, telling him he was actually shot seven times. He was so out of it, he didn't even know how many times he had been shot," Bourgeois was quoted saying.

Mintz was rolled into surgery at Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg. "I'm just so happy that he's OK," Bourgeois said.