A former lawyer tried to shoot his ex-wife in front of her family in a packed restaurant.
Matthew Exton, 43, attempted to shoot her at an Ohio restaurant table, but his gun safety was left on, preventing the weapon from firing and giving precious seconds for a waiter to run to her rescue.
The hero lunged at the disgraced former lawyer, tackling him to the floor during the incident in Toledo last year.
The events unfolded on April 11 after Exton spotted his ex-wife Kayda Valone and her family inside Sabira restaurant, which was celebrating its opening night.
Emboldened by a drink he had had at a neighboring bar, he ordered one on the family’s table.
As he left the restaurant, he spat towards their table, the Lucas County prosecutor’s office detailed.
CCTV shows how he returned moments later and marched to their table, where he pulled the gun out of his pocket.
The ex-wife and her family can be seen raising their hands in the split second Exton tried to pull the trigger in a bid to protect themselves from bullets.
Ms Valone told the court during her ex-husband’s trial: ‘I yelled ‘Gun!’ over and over again because I knew I was dead, and I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt.’
She said the weapon was ‘aimed at my face’ while Exton’s finger was on the trigger, Toledo Blade reports.
However, as the safety was still on, the waiter managed to grab Exton while others rushed to help before he could make another attempt.
His gun was loaded with one round of bullets in the chamber plus seven others in the magazine, according to the prosecuting attorney’s office.
The waiter, Tracy Cole Junior,was described as a hero who ‘saved at least three lives’ by prosecutors.
Ms Valone told the court Exton had threatened her verbally and in writing before their divorce last year.
Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney Julia R. Bates said: ‘Nothing in their training and soft openings at the restaurant could have prepared the staff for what walked through that door.
‘The defendant did not come with the intention of having a meal. He came with anger in him and with the intention to commit a public execution of his ex-wife at the restaurant that day.
‘We appreciate the jury’s service this week and we hope its decision provides some sense of closure for those seated at the table as well as the Sabira employees who were also victimised that day.
‘The employees and patrons who stepped in to stop the defendant that day are heroes.
Exton, who was struck off as an attorney, was found guilty of attempted murder on Friday.
He was also convicted of two counts of felonious assault, while being acquitted of one count of assault.
He is due to be sentenced later this month.
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