photo by: City of Lawrence/YouTube

Lawrence Police Chief Rich Lockhart, left, and Spencer Lewis on Tuesday, June 21, 2022, at the Lawrence City Commission meeting. Lewis was honored for rendering aid at the scene of a double shooting.

The Lawrence Police Department on Tuesday bestowed the Citizen Distinguished Service Award on a resident for rendering aid to two men who had shot each other in the Hy-Vee parking lot following a road-rage incident.

The award came during the Lawrence City Commission meeting when Police Chief Rich Lockhart brought the resident, Spencer Lewis, before the commission. Mayor Courtney Shipley presented Lewis with a certificate, and Lockhart gave him a gift bag from the police department.

Lewis, who hopes to become an emergency medical technician, said he felt a duty to assist the men.

“I just thought that I should help, and if that situation was presented in front of me again I would do the same thing,” Lewis said.

Lewis was working at the 23rd Street Brewery, 3512 Clinton Parkway, when he heard gunshots across the parking lot by Hy-Vee, 3504 Clinton Parkway. He immediately ran to the two wounded men, Lockhart said.

Lewis removed his shirt and used it to put pressure on one man’s wound, then moved to help the second man until emergency crews arrived, said Lockhart, who is now helping Lewis start the application and training process to become an EMT.

As previously reported by the Journal-World, around 9:40 p.m. on May 17, Zachary Michael Sutton, 22, and Monty Ray Amick, 53, both of Lawrence, were involved in a road-rage incident that culminated in the two men shooting each other, police said at the time.

Sutton died at the scene, and Amick, who was taken to an area hospital, died shortly thereafter.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Police work the scene of a shooting at Hy-Vee at 3504 Clinton Parkway on Tuesday, May 17, 2022.