AndrewBlakeOswego, IL – A gun instructor used his AR-15 rifle to stop a man who attacked a pregnant woman and her husband with a knife in his apartment complex Feb. 26.
The man with the knife dropped the weapon and ran when the gun instructor threatened to shoot him, according to the Aurora Beacon-News.
Dave Thomas, 41, is a National Rifle Association instructor who intervened to stop the attack after he heard women screaming.
Thomas looked out the door and saw blood in the hallway. That’s when he went to his bedroom and grabbed his AR-15.
“I teach people how to defend themselves, and it was just a reaction to grab the AR-15,” Thomas said, according to the Aurora Beacon-News. “He was a half a breath away from getting his head blown off and he knew that. That’s why he put the knife down.”
The Kendall County Sheriff’s deputies arrived and arrested the man suspected of stabbing his neighbor as well as a woman that was with the suspected attacker. The victim was treated and released from the hospital, according to the sheriff’s office.
Jacob Currey, who lives in the building, was charged with aggravated battery and mob action, according to the Aurora Beacon-News. Those same charges were filed against Alyssa Wright.
The incident started when another woman who lives in the building ordered pizza and went outside to meet the delivery driver. Currey started to fight with the woman, who said she was nine months pregnant. She said Currey stabbed her husband and nicked her leg with the knife.
“He told me he was gonna kill my baby — while his hand was covered in my husband’s blood,” the unidentified woman said.
Kendall County Sheriff Detective Bryan Harl gave Thomas credit for preventing the situation from getting worse.
“He did in the moment what he thought was going to de-escalate this situation and stop any further violence or loss of life and for that he is to be praised,” Harl said, according to the Aurora Beacon-News.
Thomas has a valid firearm owner’s identification card and a concealed carry permit, according to the sheriff’s office. Thomas teaches concealed carry classes and works private security.
Thomas also could have grabbed a handgun that was on his bed instead of the AR-15. But he believes if he’d used the handgun, the threat would have been less effective and he would have ended up shooting Currey.
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