Army Veteran, 75 years, Fends Off Knife-Wielding Teenager With Bare Hands

He is 75 years old, but James Vernon, the retired army veteran, fought a tight battle Tuesday. He saved 16 children and mothers at a library in Iowa, driving away a 19-year-old man with a knife who said he wanted to "kill some people." James Vernon defended himself with his knife-fighting skills, according to The Week.

The 'knife-wielder,' Dustin Brown, rushed into Morton Public Library, blocked the door and started yelling at the children and their mothers that he was going to murder them all. But the 75-year-old James Vernon just walked upto Brown and tried to pacify him.

"I tried to settle him down. I didn't, but I did deflect his attention [away from the children] and calmed him down a bit," Vernon said, The Pekin Daily Times  reported.

"I asked him if he was from Morton, did he go to high school. I asked what his problem was. He said his life sucks. That's a quote," he added.

Vernon kept Brown engaged, and quietly signalled to the others to leave. When Brown then tried to slash him, Vernon just blocked it with his left hand.

Vernon then pushed him onto a table, hit his arm till he dropped the knife and pinned him down with the help of an employee from the library, until the cops arrived on the scene.

He said that it would all have been an entirely different story if the suspect had brought a gun instead of a knife.

Brown was booked for "aggravated battery to a person aged over 60, armed violence, attempted murder and burglary," while Vernon underwent a surgery for his tendon for "blocking the knife with his left hand and two cut arteries", according to The Washington Times.