An Oregon pastor is crediting Byrna with saving his life after a knife-wielding man followed him out of a local store.
“It saved my life that one night.”
The pastor, Daymond, was making a routine stop at an Oregon Walmart when he noticed someone staring at him as he pulled into the parking lot.
“I got out, masked my face up, went into the store and I kind of looked back and thought, okay, he is following me,” Daymond said.
At first, he didn’t think much of the encounter because of his work as a pastor.
“There have been times when I go to let’s say Walmart or Fred Meyer or something like that and somebody will follow me around the store and then come up and go, ‘aren’t you that youth pastor or aren’t you that pastor? I just need prayer,” he explained.
However, as he continued to keep an eye on the man, his perspective quickly changed. Daymond said the man continued to follow every step at the store, so he quickly grabbed his items and went to the nearest checkout.
“I noticed he is about three people behind me. But what really set it off was when he put his items down and followed me out of the store,” he said. “Then I was like okay, this is not someone following me for prayer, this is for something else.”
Daymond proceeded to his vehicle, placed his shopping cart near the trunk and prepared himself for what he would find on the other side of his car.
“I put my hand on my Byrna and said, ‘sir, is there something that I can help you with?’ He then pulls his hands out and there was a knife,” he said.
So, Daymond took his Byrna out of the holster. With his Byrna out, he once again asked if there was something he could help with. Daymond said the man raised his hands and stepped back towards the vehicle he came in.
Daymond sat in his car and called local authorities to report the armed man.
After returning home, he received a call from an officer who said, “somebody was robbed with a knife in the parking lot [of another store] and he fits the description of what you gave. We have him in custody.”
Daymond said he never leaves the house without his Byrna.
