A quick-thinking middle school teacher from Texas is being hailed as a hero after he grabbed his gun and saved a 15-year-old girl who was being attacked outside his home, dramatic video shows.
The assailant followed the teen into a gated apartment complex after she got off a METRO bus on Houston’s East side around 12:30 a.m. on July 28, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
That’s when good Samaritan David Garza heard the girl screaming for help outside his apartment.
“I looked out the window and I saw a man beating up a woman on the ground … trying to take her clothes off,” Garza told KHOU.
Garza immediately grabbed his gun and ran outside to confront the attacker, security footage shows. He said the suspect had the girl by her hair.
“I ran outside, asked what’s going on. The girl screamed, ‘I’m 15, help me!’ I pointed the gun at him and told him to get off her,” Garza said.
Video obtained by the outlet shows Garza holding the handgun on his front porch — still shirtless — and screaming, “Get away from her! Hey! Come here!”
A neighbor told KHOU they believe Garza saved the girl from a potential tragedy.
“At first, I was scared, I thought she was going to get raped. I think if he didn’t come out, she would have gotten raped,” the neighbor said.
Garza said it’s not the first time he’s had to chase down someone attacking a child — something he said he wouldn’t hesitate to do again even though he “was scared, too.”
“I think it’s something anyone else would have done — come help a child,” the teacher said.
“She needed help more than I was afraid, so I had to do it.”
Andy Kahan, a victim advocate for the Houston Crime Stoppers, said that he was grateful Garza “did the right thing.”
“I take my hat off to you,” Kahan told the outlet.
Police are seeking any information about the suspect, who was wearing a black hoodie with a white Reebok logo, blue jeans, and white tennis shoes at the time of the attack.
The Post has reached out to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office for additional information on the incident.
