Anita Stinson and her friend Brian Gottschalk were enjoying donuts and coffee at a Detroit coffee shop last week, when 23-year-old Jawad Jones walked in looking agitated. "I can see him out of the corner of my eye and he seems very upset," Anita recalls.
Stinson and Gottschalk moved to sit with Jones and try to calm him down and deescalate whatever was happening with him. They didn’t know it at the time, but Jones was high on crystal meth and had a loaded gun in his pocket along with another loaded clip.
Anita says "He then pulls the gun and I’m looking at it like that’s a gun. He just grabbed it out of his right pocket and he set it down there on the table and says don’t touch it. I decided I’m not going to focus on that. And I turned to him and I said, 'Look at me, I just want you to know that it's okay, everything is going to be okay.'"
Another customer called 911 and as Stinson continued to talk to Jones, Brian then reached over and grabbed the gun and put it in his pocket. Moments later, police arrived and took Jones into custody. The police don’t recommend stepping in like Stinson and Gottschalk did, but they do recognize their bravery. When asked, the good Samaritans say they wouldn’t have done anything differently and they’re just glad nothing bad happened.