Trae Tha Truth teaming up with Waffle House hero to help victims' families

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- For a month, the nation has been singing the praises of Waffle House shooting hero James Shaw. Jr. The Nashville native wrestled an AR-15 away from the man who stormed in, killed four and hurt several others.

Bystander James Shaw Jr. recounts wrestling a gunman's weapon away from him during a fatal shooting at a Tennesee Waffle House.

Now, Houston's hometown hero Trae Tha Truth is teaming up with Shaw to assist the victims' families in Tennessee.

"Seeing everything he was doing, man, I couldn't do anything but salute and congratulate him," Trae said.

So, that's exactly what he did. He reached out to Shaw about his courageous deeds at Waffle House, and now, they will meet in person this week.

"When Trae called me, I was like, 'Well, that's something else there.' It was definitely heartwarming and made me feel real good," Shaw told Eyewitness News.

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ABC13's Erica Simon speaks to Houston's Trae Tha Truth, who is using tragedy to help his community triumph.

When Trae gets to Nashville, he will hit the ground running.

The duo will take the more than $200,000 Shaw raised for the victims' family online, and present it to them.

"The GoFundMe is going to be a gift. We're going to have the big prop check there. Hopefully we can give them something to smile about," Shaw said.

Trae and Shaw linking up makes sense for a number of reasons. While Shaw is fairly new to his heroism role, Trae has been working around the clock since Hurricane Harvey delivering supplies, re-building homes and helping any and everybody here in Houston.

In result, Trae, DJ Mr. Rogers and their organization Relief Gang have been recognized countless times, with just as many awards to match. Houston's "hometown hero" says he looks forward to meeting Nashville's, and bonding over something they both can relate to: sacrifice, service and love.

"My respect level for him is of the utmost because when it would have taken others the time to debate, and probably end up doing nothing, he moved for what he felt was right, and he not only risked himself. He risked the fact that he may never come home to his baby or his family again to try and help others," Trae said.

RELATED: Waffle House shooting hero James Shaw Jr. raises $197k+ for victims' families