The Associated Press
Vancouver, Wash. --- Brett Schott has discovered that being honored as a hero for helping a wounded California policeman can have a down side, especially when your job requires keeping a low profile.
Publicity over the medal and $3,500 Schott received last week from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission of Pittsburgh has blown his cover as a security guard at least once.
He and his wife Caroline, who both work catching shoplifters for Wal-Mart, moved to this city across the Columbia River from Portland, Ore., last summer, and publicity for the award has been “awkward and nice at the same time,” he said.
Last week, after appearing on a talk show hosted by John Walsh of “America’s Most Wanted,” Schott said a shopper recognized him and slapped him on the back as he was trying to shadow a shoplifting suspect.
Schott, 29, has been honored by California legislators, the town of Ukiah, Calif., veterans groups and others for his actions more than a year ago at a Ukiah Wal-Mart.
The episode began when Schott and his 30-year-old wife caught a woman trying to return a stolen duffel bag for $29.96 in cash. After a police officer came to take the woman into custody, a man with her shot the officer five times, including once in his right arm.
Schott, 5-foot-3 and 150 pounds, jumped the gunman and wrestled the weapon away, but the man stabbed him and went for a rifle and shotgun in the officer’s patrol car. A police cadet freed the wounded officer’s handgun from its holster and the officer used his left hand to shoot the assailant dead.