Dec. 15, 2022 — an average workday for Zieglerville’s Travis Reiter — began with his commute to a Berks County digestive health center. A mere 90 minutes after his arrival, he was mortally wounded, as David Mekeel chronicled in the Daily Local News.

Reiter, 34, had responded to an office parking lot situation: A female colleague and a man were talking by a car he thought matched a suspected stalker’s vehicle.

When he approached, the stranger pulled a gun and pointed it at the woman.

Reiter bravely charged, tussled with the gunman, and was shot in the shoulder.

“It felt like getting hit with a jackhammer,” he recalled.

The man, perhaps realizing his ruined future, took his own life.

Reiter managed to dial 911 on his cell. EMTs responded and sped him to Reading Hospital.

The medical team there leaped into action, and a physician called Reiter’s wife. As a nurse, she asked for an unvarnished update and recognized immediately how grave things were.

Surgery followed, dicey but successful.

The Reiters reunited post-op. Travis signaled his okay status by drawing for his wife a tuba, an inside joke from a Pictionary game.

He was discharged four days later and has completed physical therapy.

Reflecting on it, Travis said, “I’m not a hero. I just stepped into a bad situation. The staff at the hospital are the heroes.”

His wife said of his action that day, saying, “That’s just Travis. … He puts everyone else first.”

The full account of Travis Reiter is at the Daily Local News.

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Travis Reiter thanking his medical team after recovering.