An Ohio bus driver's life was saved after the Bible he was carrying in his chest pocket stopped two bullets, the Dayton Daily News reported.
Rickey Wagoner, 49, was trying to repair his bus on Lakeview Avenue Monday morning when three men ambushed him.
The men opened fired at Wagoner, hitting him twice in the chest. Wagoner struggled with the gunman for the gun, but was then shot in the leg during his attempt. One of the men also took a knife and stabbed Wagoner in the left arm, the Dayton Daily News reported. Wagoner took out a pen from his pocket and then stabbed one of the men in the leg. After that the men ran away.
The police received a 911 call at around 5:20 a.m. about a shooting. Wagoner, from Trotwood, told 911 he was injured.
"I've been hit in the leg," Wagoner said, according to the Dayton Daily News. "My chest feels like I've been hit with a sledgehammer."
But one of the bullets had been blocked by an "intervention," police said. The "intervention" turned out to be Wagoner's Bible.
"The two bullets were stopped by the New Testament book in his (shirt) pocket," Sergeant Michael Pauley of the Dayton Police Department told the Dayton Daily News "There was obviously some kind of intervention involved in this incident, because he probably should not be here." Pauley said.
The Bible Wagoner was carrying was later referred to by police as "The Message," which is a modern translation of the Bible.
Police have not yet apprehended Wagoner's attackers, which are described as three black men in their late teens, the Dayton Daily News reported.
Wagoner was taken to Miami Valley Hospital for treatment.
"Amazingly, his injures are not life threatening," Pauley told the Dayton Daily News. "He basically said he fought for his life."
"God's on Rick's side," Lillie Brown, Wagoner's friend of two decades, told the Dayton Daily News.
