By admin 
Jacob “Cody” Hull gave his life to protect the 8-year-old girl he cared for during the shooting at Chico’s Butte County Library on Monday.
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That’s the understanding the girl’s uncle, Philip Brun, shared Wednesday afternoon in an interview with The Sacramento Bee at his restaurant, Nobby’s.
The pair had been visiting the library together, according to Brun. He said Hull’s final moments speak to what “a really great person” he was.
“I think a lot of people would like to think that they are capable of doing that, but that takes a lot,” Brun said, referring to Hull’s efforts to safeguard Brun’s niece. “I’m not sure we all have that.”
Although Hull was not the girl’s biological father, Brun said Hull raised her alongside Brun’s sister. Hull and the mother were close friends and had known each other for nearly 15 years, according to Brun.
“They’ve all lived together the whole time, so basically a father figure,” Brun said of Hull’s relationship with his niece. “He was willing to take on a large responsibility when he didn’t need to, and I think he was probably the best father she could have had.”
Hull, known to his friends and family as Cody, was one of two victims of the shooting. The other was Robert Johnson, 74, from Orland.
On Monday evening, 18-year-old suspect Bradley Scott Sayer allegedly did a walk-through of the building, retrieved a shotgun from his vehicle and fatally shot Johnson at the main door and Hull inside. He was taken into custody shortly after and is scheduled for arraignment Thursday afternoon.
Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene and Hull was taken to Enloe Hospital, where he later died. There was no indication that Sayer had any prior relationship with the victims, according to the police.
Brun’s niece sustained injuries during the shooting that were not life-threatening — a scratch on her belly, said Brun. She was treated at Enloe Hospital before reuniting with her family.
To Brun’s knowledge, the girl is “doing fine” physically.
“I think that the mental side of it probably hasn’t hit her yet,” he said. “That’s a lot to process.”
Brun said that, initially, he did not know his niece had been involved in the shooting.
“It was definitely different once it was someone that I knew,” he said. “It took me a while to process it. I don’t think it really fully hit me until the next day.”
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Brun’s wife, Jessica, suggested Tuesday that they leverage their resources — two popular restaurants in Chico — to host a fundraiser.
“We have a platform that we’ve been given and a little bit of outreach in the community, so I figured it’d be a good opportunity to utilize that,” she said.
On Saturday and Sunday their restaurants — Nobby’s and The Cheese Steak Shop — will donate their profits to the families of Hull and Johnson.
Philip Brun said the fundraiser aims to “bring as much positivity out of this as we can.” He added that he and his wife would have liked to do something to help regardless, but the fact that his family has been personally impacted brings it close to home.
According to Brun, the community has “really stepped up” in response to the weekend fundraiser and the shooting more broadly.
“I wasn’t anticipating it being on the level that it has been so far,” he said. “We’ve been getting a lot of (positive) feedback and a lot of outreach.”
The vendors the Bruns use for their restaurants, including their butcher and bakery, have offered to donate products. Brun and his wife are working on a system to collect donations for people who can’t attend the weekend events in person.
Brun said this tragedy has taught him to invest more in his family and express his feelings towards his loved ones.
When he learned his niece had been involved, he worried it was more serious than it turned out to be. He said, in that moment, he regretted not telling her she means a lot to him and not being there “as much as I really should be.”
“You don’t know when your last chance to say, ‘I love you’ is going to come,” he said. “Just make sure that you tell your loved ones that you love them as often as possible.”
Jessica Brun echoed this sentiment. “You really just never know,” she said. “You’re just going to the library one day — you never think about it.”
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This story was originally published June 24, 2026 at 5:32 PM.