John Phillip Lally, Jr.

John Phillip Lally, Jr., helped rescue Jonathan Gibson from assault, Houston, Texas, November 11, 2023. In the morning, Gibson, 29, was among the police officers pursuing a 19-year-old man driving a stolen car on a freeway. After a multi-vehicle crash involving the stolen car, the suspect remained inside the vehicle and shot Gibson in the left leg as he walked toward the suspect’s vehicle and ordered him to exit. Gibson tried to hobble away as his partner shot at the stolen car from their police cruiser. Nearby, Lally, 40, a delivery truck driver, had gotten out of his work pickup truck, which was stopped behind a second police vehicle and a wrecked van which blocked his view of the scene, after he’d heard a loud boom. Lally then heard gunshots and saw Gibson fall , deducing he had been wounded and was in danger of being hit by continued gunfire. Officers from the second police vehicle shot at the assailant, who left the stolen car and ran to the passenger side of the van. Amid gunfire and unaware of the source or direction of fire, Lally shouted for Gibson to come toward him as Lally moved closer. The assailant then ran back toward the stolen car and police fired again, wounding him as he went to the ground by another car. An officer reached Gibson and dragged him by his ballistic vest about 25 feet as Lally approached. With his left hand, Lally also grasped Gibson’s vest and, as Lally walked backward, they pulled Gibson about 40 feet to cover behind Lally’s truck. Observing the assailant attempting to load a magazine into his handgun, officers shot again and soon he was motionless and later died. Gibson was treated at a hospital. Lally was not injured.