State and local officials honored a 76-year-old man who thwarted a knife attack earlier this month at the Morton Public Library. James Vernon fended off the assailant while teaching children chess, and suffered two cut arteries in his left arm. Vernon says he’s not unique in his desire to protect others:
“There’s an awful lot of people in this room, jammed into this situation, who would have tried to do the same thing. Maybe less successfully maybe more successfully they’d come out with just a Band-Aid on.”
Vernon even thanked the officials, and also commented on the significant public interest in the incident:
“I was old, and then I got to be news. And now I’m kind of old news. And next week or two I’m going to go back to just being old.”
Vernon says he believes many others in his situation would also have tried to stop the attacker. Governor Bruce Rauner also made an appearance to thank Vernon, and issued a statewide proclamation recognizing Vernon’s actions.