In an odd turn of events, an El Paso man honored by President Trump at the White House for his bravery during the mass shooting at Walmart seems to have some holes in his story. Chris Grant was arrested by Secret Service agents at the White House before the ceremony due to an outstanding criminal warrant.

Maybe you saw the ceremony on Monday at the White House. Dayton police were honored for their bravery in the line of duty during that city’s recent mass shooting. Each received a Medal of Valor from President Trump. Civilian heroes who rose to the occasion during the mass shooting in an El Paso Walmart were given a certificate of commendation. The president told each of their stories. Personal stories of civilian heroes in emergency situations are inspiring and moving.

So, when a story about one of the El Paso heroes turns out to be tainted with an arrest at the White House and questions about the validity of his story surface, questions arise. My first question is why was the man arrested as he arrived at the White House? He’s allegedly a fugitive from justice, as it turns out. His 82-year-old mother, Minnie, accepted a certificate on his behalf.

A Secret Service spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that a White House visitor with an arrest warrant was temporarily detained by U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division Officers on Monday. “It was subsequently determined that while the arrest warrant was still active, the agency that issued the warrant would not extradite, at which time the individual was released from Secret Service custody,” the spokesperson said.

It was not clear what Grant was charged with related to Monday’s arrest. Texas court records show he has a lengthy criminal history involving theft and evading arrest, the Washington Examiner reported. He was given an eight-month prison sentence in March after pleading guilty to car theft. He received an 18-month sentence in 2016 after pleading guilty to stealing televisions from a department store in Richardson, Texas. He also pleaded guilty to evading arrest in Collins County that same year.

Hmm. Grant’s was a compelling story, as presented by President Trump. The story goes that the 50-year-old man was in Walmart shopping for snacks for his kids. Once the shooting began and he came in sight of the shooter, he started throwing bottles of soda at him to create a distraction. I had visions of Grant tossing 2-liter bottles of soda through the air at the murderer so that other shoppers could run to safety. (Trump didn’t mention the size of the bottles – that was just my imagination at work.) By creating the distraction for others, Grant became a target for the shooter. He was shot in the kidney and ribs. It’s quite a story. I remember thinking he must still be recovering in El Paso and unable to attend the White House ceremony when his mother accepted the certificate from President Trump. Trump, by the way, was impressed with the story. He inserted “listen to this” as he began.

As part of his remarks in the White House’s East Room, Trump said: “Chris grabbed — listen to this — soda bottles and anything else in front of him, and began hurling them at the gunman, distracting him from the other shoppers and causing the shooter to turn toward Chris and fire at Chris, whereby Chris suffered two serious gunshot wounds. But he is recovering well, and we wish him the best. His family is here. So please thank Chris for us, please.”

Normally, people coming in close contact with the president are subject to background checks, for safety concerns. Was this man checked before he arrived at the White House? Did the act of traveling to Washington, D.C. give him fugitive status? Is it because he was given an eight-month prison sentence in March for car theft and is a fugitive from serving that sentence? He has a long criminal history of theft and evading arrest.

A Secret Service spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that a White House visitor with an arrest warrant was temporarily detained by U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division Officers on Monday. “It was subsequently determined that while the arrest warrant was still active, the agency that issued the warrant would not extradite, at which time the individual was released from Secret Service custody,” the spokesperson said.

Grant shared his story in an interview from his hospital bed with CNN’s Chris Cuomo. He also met with Texas Governor Greg Abbott. His family says he was in a coma for two days after being shot. His story doesn’t match with video from the attack, however, according to El Paso police, who were not consulted before Grant went to the White House.

Meantime, El Paso Police Sgt. Enrique Carrillo told ABC-7 that the White House and other entities never attempted to verify Grant’s claim that he threw soda bottles at the Walmart gunman to try to stop him before being wounded in the gunfire.

“It’s just that what he said is not truthful,” Carrillo said. “We saw his actions (on store surveillance video) and it’s not like he described.”

“We’ve never had anything like this happen, never had a victim’s report so skewed from what actually happened” and receive this much attention, Sgt. Robert Gomez told ABC-7.

The El Paso police aren’t trying to demean the man for his actions, but they say it was basic human survival instincts that kicked in, not a conscious decision to protect others.

“His actions were captured by surveillance cameras and they are not as described by Mr. Grant,” Carrillo said. “We are not demeaning his reaction which are of basic human instincts but they amount to an act of self-preservation and nothing above that.”

Whatever the whole story shakes out to be, the bottom line is that lives were saved when Grant created a distraction so that others could run for safety. If the outstanding warrant is in effect, he’ll be dealt with in El Paso. It’s a strange story coming from a White House event, though, no matter how you look at it.