Columbia Police say the Airforce Veteran who restrained a stabbing suspect until police arrived is a Good Samaritan. According to authorities, they are still investigating a stabbing that happened at Walgreens last week. Police detained 47-year-old Jermaine Nedd and are charging him with Attempted Murder and Possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
According to the Columbia Police Department (CPD), Nedd stabbed a random person multiple times in the upper body. Deputy Chief of the CPD Melron Kelly said, “A good Samaritan, a heroic Samaritan held the suspect down until law enforcement arrived.” The heroic Kennis Goodman was delivering door dash orders at the time of the attack.
His first order of the day was at Walgreens. While he was picking up his deliveries, Goodman said he heard a fight and within moments he saw a man tackled to the ground. Without a moment’s hesitation, Goodman sprang into action and grabbed the Knife from Nedd’s grasp. He tackled him to the ground and “I kicked him off the individual and subdued him with the knife and we got into a little tussle and I got him on the ground and managed to keep him there until the police arrived.”
By the time Goodman reached the scene, there were three stab wounds. Goodman explained to reporters that there was blood everywhere. He asked employees and witnesses to help. He explained, “The women and everyone else around were a little bit disturbed because they didn’t know what was going on, and either I didn’t realize what I was doing but, in a fight, or flight moment I was just thinking to stop whatever was going on. ”
He added, “Seeing someone with such a large age gap between each other and an older individual on the floor was just something that couldn’t happen.” While he’s been labeled as a Good Samaritan, that’s not how he sees himself. “I am just a regular individual that just came into the store, God gave me a chance to prove myself as a good individual in this world and I think I took the opportunity to please him”, Goodman stated.
After his adrenaline subsided Goodman says he wished he could have done more. He explained, “People feel as though I saved lives, I feel as though I might have been late to the situation had I not acted, and I still feel like I didn’t act fast enough.” After the traumatic event, he immediately called a friend to help him cope with what had happened.
The heroic veteran says he sought mental counseling shortly after. While in the military, he advocated for mental health awareness and this moment only encouraged him to seek assistance. He said, “I really want to say speechless but my words of choice are senseless, it was a random stabbing. I had no idea this was going to take place on this day. ”
He added, “I was really disturbed and distraught the entire day by it, but overall I’m really happy I did something about it.” Goodman stated “I was willing to lose it, that day death wasn’t the same as I was looking at it but I was willing to lose it that day. I couldn’t stand there and watch that old man die in front of me and then I couldn’t watch the guy doing the stabbing continue to stab. ” He concluded by saying, “If it would have gotten to the point where I got stabbed at least the older person wouldn’t have been stabbed more. I’ll be honest I was willing to lose my life that day.”