A Chick-fil-A employee in Florida is being praised for his heroic actions after stopping a man from allegedly carjacking a woman and a baby, according to NBC News.
Mykel Gordon was working at a Chick-fil-A location in the Fort Walton Beach area on Wednesday afternoon when the woman started screaming for help, according to Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office and Chick-fil-A statements.
The incident report stated the woman told deputies that the suspect, William Branch, approached her while she was getting her nephew out of his car seat. She said the suspect was carrying a stick in his hand and was wielding it in a way she believed he would use the stick as a weapon.
Gordon intervenes after woman screams for help
The woman narrated she stepped back and away from Branch, who lunged at her and grabbed the keys from her waistband before getting inside her car. The sheriff's office wrote on Facebook that a Chick-fil-A employee ran to intervene when the victim began screaming for help.
The suspect punched Gordon in the face, but he did not seriously injure him. A video taken by a witness using a cellphone showed Branch and Gordon wrestling on the ground before other people ran over to help. Gordon was then able to hold Branch down.
Branch, who hails from DeFuniak Springs, was charged with battery and carjacking with a weapon. It is still unclear if the 43-year-old has obtained an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
According to police, Gordon told deputies that the suspect had been involved in another incident at the restaurant earlier that day. Branch allegedly reached into another woman's car about 10 minutes before the attempted carjacking. A second incident report stated that Branch unlocked the driver's door and got into the vehicle.
Branch then sat on top of the woman inside the car and placed all his body weight on her, telling her to get out. According to the report, after she screamed for help, Gordon intervened and chased off the suspect.
Gordon also saved teen girls back in 2018
The Fort Walton Beach Chick-fil-A praised Gordon, calling him a hero for helping the women. The restaurant wrote on Facebook that its mission at Chick-fil-A is to serve, and Gordon took it further by saving the women.
This was not the first time Gordon lent a helping hand to a customer. He helped two teenage girls back in 2018 after a truck failed to negotiate a turn and fell onto the girls' vehicle, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News.
The dad of one of the girls told the newspaper that God resonates there, and it is a miracle in many ways how this happened. He added that to have people like this step forward and make something happen, he knows not everybody will do something like that.
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