PLAZA MIDWOOD — A guy with a car for a profile picture confirmed Wednesday that he “absolutely would have disarmed the attacker” if he had been on the light rail at the time.
Speaking from behind a desk at his insurance office in Uptown, sales manager Mark Jeffries, 42, said he has “watched enough John Wick movies” to know exactly how he would have subdued the assailant. He added that his high school wrestling experience, combined with “above-average grip strength,” made him uniquely qualified for the job.
“The average person is paralyzed by shock in these situations,” Jeffries explained after reviewing the recently released light rail surveillance footage from his ergonomic office chair. “They succumb to the flight-or-flight instinct. But preventing a tragedy requires an immediate, almost preternatural reaction time. Which I have. You can’t hesitate. You just act.”
This sentiment was echoed across local social media forums by a chorus of other tactical experts. “Of course you step in,” wrote one user with a Punisher skull logo for a profile picture, who works as an overnight stocker at a Walmart in Gastonia. “You’re putting your life at risk, but duty calls. That’s the oath we take.”
Jeffries, who makes a point of reminding the Instagram comments he regularly carries a concealed weapon, said he is “always ready to draw down if the situation escalates.” He added that he doesn’t “need some cop showing up ten minutes later to do the job I could’ve finished in ten seconds.”
“Most people freeze,” Jeffries said while eating a bag of gummy worms. “Not me. My Glock doesn’t jam, and neither do I.”
Jeffries has not ridden the light rail since 2014.
