Jonathan T. Yankasky helped attempt to rescue a woman and her son from assault, Scottsdale, Arizona, February 3, 2015. A 5-year-old boy screamed for help as his mother, 33, struggled against an assailant, just inside the front door of their house, for control of a loaded pistol. Working at a construction site across the street, Yankasky, 22, plumber, and his father heard him and ran to the scene. Seeing the woman and the assailant through the doorway, Yankasky shielded the boy just outside the house as his father entered it and joined in the struggle for the weapon. The gun fired during the struggle, after which Yankasky’s father took possession of it. As the assailant then went deeper into the house, Yankasky’s father guided the woman outside and retreated with her, Yankasky guiding the boy toward the street. The assailant then exited the house and, threatening them with a loaded revolver, followed them across the street. There, he struck the woman on the head with the revolver, taking her to the ground. Yankasky and his father ran to their nearby van and started toward the scene with it for use against the assailant, but the assailant fatally wounded the woman and then himself. The boy was then secured by others.
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