New Marines jump into action to stop fleeing criminal
COLUMBIA, S.C. November 5 2019 Two new Marines from Lexington helped capture a suspect who running away at a Best Buy, Lexington County Police said.
Noah Jordan and Caleb Montgomery, both private first class, pulled off their heroics moments after a credit-card fraud suspect ran out of the store on Sunset Boulevard on Thursday, police said.
Moments earlier, Jordan and Montgomery had pulled up to their local recruiting station when they saw commotion at the Best Buy across the parking lot, police said.
The suspect, who police haven’t named, had been caught attempting credit-card fraud before bolting out of the store, authorities said.
“We could just hear yelling at first, and we looked over and saw the police chasing after a suspect fleeing from the Best Buy,” said Montgomery, 19, from Irmo.
That’s when the Marines went into action.
“I looked at Montgomery and said, ‘We’re going to do this,’ then ran,” said Jordan, 18, of Lexington.
The two ran straight at the suspect — cutting off his escape route.
“The suspect tripped over himself when we ran up to him, and then when he looked up at two Marines blocking his path, he gave up trying to get away,” Montgomery said.
Police said they were impressed with the Marines’ actions.
“In my years as a police officer, I have only seen it a couple times where a bystander has intervened to help the police,” said Patrolman First Class William Norris. “Typically, people will stand by and pull out their phones to record the encounter, so it felt really motivating to see somebody actually take action and help us catch them.”
The two Marines credited their actions to training from their drill instructors at Parris Island and their local recruiters at Marine Corps Recruiting Substation Lexington.
WACH