By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
A Great Bend native is being hailed as a hero after a fatal shooting in Dodge City early Sunday morning. Forty-year-old Austin Zink is the bouncer at Central Station Bar and Grill on Wyatt Earp Blvd. in Dodge City. His sister, Jessica Zink, said Austin tackled the shooter after he shot three people, killing two, inside the bar.
"The shooter walked in," Jessica said. "He shot the person he was wanting to shoot. He shot two more people inside, then calmly walked out the front door. That's where Austin is stationed. Austin tackled him once he realized that was the shooter. He had a good grip on him. The shooter was unfortunately able to wiggle free."
The gunman, later identified as 36-year-old Ricardo Cadena-Garcia of Dodge City, shot Zink in the hip, arm, and abdomen. Cadena-Garcia fled the scene and was later arrested by authorities near Forgan, Okla. Zink, a father of three who grew up in Great Bend before moving to Dodge City in 2010, remains hospitalized.
"Overall, he's okay," Jessica said. "He literally just decided he wanted to stand up and move to a chair, so we did that. It ebbs and flows, his pain and his condition, but as a whole, he's doing all right."
Twenty-year-old Abraham Morales-Santos, and 29-year-old Antonio Cabrera, both of Dodge City, were killed in the attack. Jessica has established a Gofundme page for her brother, who will be out of work for some time to recover. CLICK HERE to visit that page.