Earlier in the week, a 75-year-old Army veteran by the name of James Vernon saved a bunch of kids’ lives from a knife wielding lunatic. On Tuesday, Vernon was leading a Chess Club meeting at the Morton Library in Illinois when a 19-year-old entered the establishment carrying two knives with the intention to kill. According to PekinTimes, the attacker was spouting off threats and was aiming to eliminate every child in the building.
Vernon, who had served in the military decades ago, drew upon his weapons training and was able to subdue the attacker. Our hero discussed the situation by saying, “He actually ran into the room yelling, ‘I’m going to kill some people!’ and Vernon described the two five-inch long blades presented as “hunting types.” He did sustain a number of injuries in the process which included “two cut arteries and a tendon on his left hand” from blocking the psycho’s pursuits. While distracting the attacker, all the kids (ages 7-13) were able to successfully escape the building.
In an attempt at avoiding mentioning the attacker’s name, which you can easily track down if you’re really interested, the teen was apprehended by authorities and is currently facing charges for attempted murder, armed violence, aggravated battery, and a bunch of other stuff which includes, unsurprisingly, possession of child pornography. Once he was in custody, the attacker admitted to authorities that his intention was to commit a murder-suicide type situation. Thanks to the quick actions of James Vernon, this plan never came to fruition.
(Via PekinTimes)