“Help me! He’s killing me! He’s killing me!” A South Toledo gun owner heard a woman’s cries for help outside his residence yesterday afternoon. The 29-year-old gun owner grabbed his Roscoe and ran to investigate. Seeing a man using a hatchet to hack at the woman in the cab of a pickup truck, he fired. Afterwards, witnesses credit the pistol-toting good guy with saving the woman’s life.
According to WTVG, the 53-year-old woman survived. Her attacker, identified as 59-year-old Bernard Neyland did not.
TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – It’s a horrifying incident that neighbors say they won’t soon forget.
“I heard this lady screaming,” said one man who didn’t want to be identified. “She was saying, ‘Help me! He’s killing me! He’s killing me!'”
Wednesday afternoon Toledo police say a man and woman were arguing in a truck near the intersection of Nelson and Lodge.
Shortly after, investigators say the man started attacking the woman with a hatchet.
“I thought it was his hand, but it was actually an ax,” said the neighbor.
The unidentified man says he witnessed the man strike the woman multiple times in her arms and face.
“She was bleeding and she was just screaming for her life,” said the man.
As the violence continued, officers say Benjamin Hand, 29, came out from his home shot and killed the attacking man.
Neighbors say they feel it’s a move that ultimately saved the 53-year-old woman’s life.
Using deadly force in defense of a third party carries with it significant risk to the good Samaritan. However, in cases like this one, it does not take a rocket scientist to sort out the good guys from the bad. In this case, Benjamin Hand did a good thing. And his neighbors credit him appropriately with saving the woman’s life.
Bravo Benjamin. You’ve earned our Defensive Gun Use of the Day.