An army veteran managed to save the lives of 16 children and a handful of mothers Tuesday at a library in Iowa when he drove off a 19-year-old man, who was wielding a knife and said he wanted to "kill some people," with his own knife-fighting skills, according to The Week.
Dustin Brown barged in to the Morton Public Library with a knife in hand, blocked the main door and then began to yell at the children and their mothers in attendance that he was going to kill them all, but 75-year-old James Vernon approached the teenager to try to calm him down.
"I tried to settle him down. I didn't, but I did deflect his attention [away from the children] and calmed him down a bit," Vernon said, The Pekin Daily Times reported.
"I asked him if he was from Morton, did he go to high school. I asked what his problem was. He said his life sucks. That's a quote," he added. The army veteran distracted Brown long enough to signal the children to make their way to the main door and escape. The suspect then tried to slash his knife on Vernon, who blocked it using his left hand.
Vernon threw Brown onto a table, repeatedly hit his arm until he dropped the knife and pinned him down with the help of an employee from the library until the cops arrived. He remarked that the incident would have been an entirely different story had the suspect brought a gun with him instead of a knife.
Brown was charged with aggravated battery to a person aged over 60, armed violence, attempted murder and burglary. Meanwhile, Vernon had surgery for his tendon for blocking the knife with his left hand and two cut arteries, according to The Washington Times.
