Daniel Gaskey: Firefighter, Ex-Marine Takes Down Robber

An off-duty firefighter who also happens to be a former Marine bravely stopped a knife-wielding robber at a food store in northeast Texas last month.

According to NBC News, recently-released surveillance footage of the June 26 incident — which can be seen below — shows a man later identified as Daniel Gaskey approaching the counter at Exxon Oasis Food Store in Midlothian, Texas at around 6:18 a.m., when suddenly a masked man enters the store and shoves Gaskey out of the way.

Video footage shows Gaskey backing off and putting his hands up as the suspect flashes a fixed-blade knife at the female clerk and demands money.

Gaskey can then be seen pausing for a couple of seconds before jumping on the would-be robber’s back, taking him down to the ground and holding him there.

“He then said, ‘I’m not fighting anymore,'” Gaskey told NBC News.

Police quickly arrived and arrested 19-year-old Dylan Bearden. He has been charged with aggravated robbery.

As NBC News reports, Gaskey was a Marine for eight years and has a wife and two children. He has been working for the Mansfield Fire Department for just over a year and had stopped in at the gas station for his morning coffee before heading to work.

“Sometimes there’s a job that needs to get done,” Gaskey told NBC News of the incident. “You have to be willing to stand up and help each other.”