FRANKLIN, Va. (WAVY) — Home surveillance cameras on Norfleet Street caught a man chasing two children Wednesday while armed with a knife.
Terrel Majette was on his front porch talking with his brother around 6 p.m., when suddenly, a little boy and girl came running towards them.
“I was sitting on my steps here and the little girl, she said, ‘there’s a man chasing after us with a knife,'” Majette told 10 On Your Side.
Majette told us the boy ran home while the girl ran up onto his porch, terrified.
“Instantly I ran in the house and I grabbed my firearm and came out and as soon as I stepped on my porch my brother was telling me from the car, ‘Hey bro, he’s charging, he’s charging,” Majette said.
Majette’s doorbell camera caught the exchange where he calmly told the man to go back to his house and to not come onto his property.
“Going into protection mode, going into father mode, that was the first thing,” Majette said.
Majette’s wife, Rachel, ushered the child inside as she called 911.
“She was shaken up, she was crying and by the time she got home I think she was still crying, her grandma said,” said Rachel Majette.
10 On Your Side obtained additional doorbell video that clearly shows the man with the knife trying to charge at the children next door, and then began stabbing at the ground.
“The last thing I wanted to do was harm him or see him harm any of these kids,” Majette said. “I was robbed at gunpoint in 2019 in Atlanta and it shook me to the core, so I’ve been dealing with that and being clinically diagnosed with PTSD. … You know, when she came up all I could think about was what if [it] was my child, what would I do.”
The incident report from Franklin police revealed the man to be 29-years-old and is known to police. He was taken to a nearby hospital. Majette could not have asked for a better outcome given the stressful situation.
“I’m just glad I was able to maintain my composure and de-escalate the situation,” Majette said.
The children who were chased were not harmed.