An Arizona ex-Marine who turned hero again when he thwarted an armed robbery attempt by snatching the gun from the 14-year-old assailant said he was lucky to survive because the teen's firearm jammed.
James Kilcer, 32, has been making the rounds since his act of heroism was caught on video and broadcast on local and national news stations.
Kilcer was on his way to work at the Yuma County Sherriff's Department when he stopped at the convenience store in a Chevron gas station.
The ex-Marine saw someone walk in the door with a gun in his hand and acted immediately.
In surveillance video released by the Yuma County Sheriff's Office, Kilcer lunges at the suspect - who has at least two other people with him - pouncing on his pistol, slapping it away from himself and the cashier and toward the coolers lining the back of the store
'S--t needed to be done,' Kilcer said. 'I kind of saw what was coming my way and just, you know, I wasn't gonna sit around and cry about it. And I just waited until he took that one extra step and - boom! - f---ing hit him and just instinct kicked in.'
He claims his life was only saved because the suspect, who turned out to be a 14-year-old boy, was unable to fire the loaded gun after Kilcer discovered it was jammed.
The former soldier grabbed the gun away from the teen and tried to fire the weapon four times but it never went off.
He eventually put pressure on the slide of the .22 pistol, firing off a round, seeing it was loaded the entire time.
'I felt the round hit my hand and I'm like, Oh s--t. So I locked the slide back and I look in my palm and it was a .22 in my palm,' Kilcer said.
Kilcer then punched the suspect. He believed he may have broken the 14-year-old's nose. He was then able to get control and hold him down until police arrived as the other two suspects got away.
Off-camera, Kilcer said that he was then involved in a struggle for control of the gun in the back of the store. They both tried to get their hands on the trigger before Kilcer eventually won out.
'It was really surreal,' Kilcer said. 'Like, I counted in my head. As all this was happening at frickin' lightspeed I was counting trigger pulls, and I realized I was pulling a trigger, making attempts to pull the trigger, but everything was just jammed up.'
James Kilcer (pictured right), 32, was stopping in a Chevron gas station convenience store on his way to work as an Arizona sheriff's deputy in Yuma County when a would-be robber suddenly enters
Kilcer said he immediately noticed the robber, who was backed by two others, and the gun in his hand
Kilcer then lunges at the attempted robber, pouncing on his pistol, slapping it away from himself and the cashier and toward the coolers lining the back of the store
