Ex-Marine from Somerset saved the life of man shot in Kilburn pub

Drinker shot himself in the leg at The Golden Egg in Kilburn (Image: Jonathan Goldberg)

A drinker who shot himself in a Kilburn pub was saved by a former marine who was visiting London for the first time, the Times can reveal.

Tom Morgan rushed to the man’s aide after his gun went off in the Golden Egg pub in Kilburn High Road.

The 24-year-old, who lives in Somerset, was visiting the city on a job-hunting mission when he was in the pub with a friend on the evening of March 11.

He said: “We were sat at a table a few metres away from a group of three men and as one of them sat down we heard a loud bang.

“They covered up the shooting really well as he didn’t scream or anything. People were asking what the hell the noise was and eventually presumed someone must have dropped something in the kitchen.”

Mr Morgan went to the men’s toilets 15 minutes later which is when he discovered the man had shot himself in the thigh.

“As I went to the toilets I saw a thick trail of blood down the stairs leading to a cubicle and then to the fire exit so I followed it wondering why it hadn’t been cleaned up,” he said.

“I followed it to the fire exit and heard voices so I opened the door and outside was a man lying there half-conscious and his friend was on the phone panicking.”

Mr Morgan recognised the man had been shot and he would need to stem the bleed immediately so he dragged him back into the pub and carried out first aid on him.

He said: “I pulled off his trainers and jeans and could see he was shot in the upper thigh and noticed the exit wound. It was very close to where the artery runs and he was losing a lot of blood so I placed my knee in his crutch and wrapped his leg with the jeans and kept talking to him to keep him awake.

“He had lost a lot of blood at least two pints so I had to do that until the paramedics turned up around 20 minutes later.”

The man was rushed to hospital where he was later discharged.

Mr Morgan, who was in the Marines for seven years, said his experience would not put him off visiting London again.

He said: “It’s not like London is the Wild West and I have seen a lot worse when I was in Afghanistan,

“His friend and the paramedics thanked me for what I did but I don’t see it as a big deal.”

A 31-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possessing an illegal firearm and bailed until later this month.