75-Year-Old Illinois Retiree Thwarts Knife Attack on Children

A 75-year-old retiree with bum knees and high blood pressure, Jim Vernon was all that stood between 16 young children and a murderous, knife-wielding, angry young man.

Dustin Brown, 19, stormed into a community room at the Morton Public Library in southern Illinois last week, according to police, and screamed “I’m going to kill some people.” The children, some as young as 7, saw a hunting knife in each of his hands and scrambled to hide beneath tables.

Vernon put himself between the would-be killer and the youngsters. The chess lesson Vernon was imparting to the kids that Tuesday afternoon gave way to a mind game with the disturbed intruder, one which would end in violent bloodshed minutes later.

Vernon would later tell the Washington Post one thought entered his mind: “This can’t happen here and I’m not going to let it happen. These kids are my responsibility right now.”

The elderly man began talking to Brown, asking him questions. Was he from Morton? Where did he go to high school? “I asked what his problem was,” Vernon recalled. “He said his life sucks. That’s a quote.”

Brown wasn’t kidding. He already was in big trouble before he ran into that library. He’d been arrested on child pornography charges several months ago.

“I tried to settle him down,” Vernon told the Pekin Daily Times. “I didn’t, but I did deflect his attention.”

That brief moment allowed a few moms to escape with the children.

“Quick, like rabbits,” Vernon said.

The pimply-faced young man, who’d been cutting one of his own arms with his knife, then lunged at Vernon, according to court documents. But the Army veteran had watched closely, noting how he held the weapon. His hand-to-hand combat training, learned more than 50 years ago, kicked in and Vernon threw up his left hand to block the lunge. The knife cut him, though, severing a tendon and arteries.

Vernon — even with his septuagenarian aches and pains — nevertheless grabbed the younger man and threw him onto a table. With the knife stuck under his body, Vernon began pounding on the teen until he let go.

Bleeding all over, Vernon held him down until a library employee ran in and pulled the knives away. Together, they subdued the attacker until police arrived.

Vernon, who called the moment “90 seconds of combat,” saved the day.

Brown, however, told police, “I failed my mission to kill everyone,” according to court documents.

Prosecutors say Brown told them he’d been planning to kill the children for two weeks and then take his own life. Brown is charged with attempted murder, armed violence, aggravated battery to a person over age 60, in addition to the 22 child pornography charges lodged against him in the spring.

Vernon, who retired from Caterpillar Inc. in 2002, underwent surgery to repair his wounds. He celebrates his birthday next week.

To his friends at the library and his community, he’s a real-life hero.

“Here at the library, we love our fictional heroes such as Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew and Robin Hood,” the library posted on its Facebook page. “But this week, the #1 hero in our book is Jim Vernon.”