Pedro Perez

Pedro Perez helped rescue Gail Gethins from assault, Springfield, Massachusetts, December 27, 2022. Gethins, 39, a police officer, attempted to apprehend an assailant who had just robbed a store with a large kitchen knife.  Gethins chased the assailant, who was still in possession of the knife.  The two began to struggle and Gethins shouted at the assailant to get down on the ground, but he resisted.  Perez, 31, real estate entrepreneur, was driving nearby and stopped at the scene when he saw Gethins and assailant struggling.  Perez went to Gethins and the assailant and pushed them forward and the assailant dropped the knife.   All three fell to the ground, the assailant grabbing the Gethins’s pistol as they fell.  The knife was on the ground and close enough for the assailant to also reach it.  Perez and Gethins attempted to get the pistol from him.  The assailant pulled the trigger and fired two shots, one of which struck his hand and caused a serious injury before it went through the hood of Perez’s sweatshirt.  The other shot struck Perez’s nearby truck. With the assistance of an arriving police lieutenant, the pistol was taken from the assailant and he was handcuffed.  Gethins sustained a back injury.  Perez sustained bruised ribs; he recovered.