Photo By Staff Sgt. Lucas Vega | Lance Cpl. Joshua Escandon, a radio operator with 3rd Air-Naval Gunfire Liaison...... read more read more
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LANCASTER, Calif. — Lance Cpl. Joshua Escandon was going to lunch with his wife, Feb. 26, in Lancaster, Calif., when his Marine instincts kicked-in because he heard the cries of a woman screaming for help from afar.
Escandon stepped out of his car and immediately knew something was not quite right. He scanned his surroundings and spotted a group of people acting disorderly.
When Escandon heard a woman yelling, “They are going to kill him! Help him!” he knew he had to take action.
“I got out of the car,” said Escandon, a radio operator with 3rd Air-Naval Gunfire Liaison Company. “Then all I heard was a woman screaming, shouts and commotion. I knew I had to do something.”
The Marine ran towards the direction of the crowd, where he was blocked by a group of onlookers from what appeared to be a physical altercation taking place.
“Everyone was watching, but nobody was helping,” said Escandon, who returned from a seven-month deployment to Afghanistan in December. “Like Marines look out for each other in combat, we have to protect our fellow man too and stop letting stuff like this happen, or it will just happen more.”
As he weaved his way through the crowd, Escandon witnessed a man who was being kicked and punched by two men. One of the men was holding what appeared to be a sword, described Escandon. Escandon later learned the two men were gang-affiliated, and the weapon was a cane-sword, a cane that incorporates a concealed blade, according to the Lancaster Sheriff’s Department.
Escandon felt compelled to intervene, stating that he didn’t care if he was going to get hurt or not. He disarmed the aggressor with the cane-sword, while the other man who was being brutally attacked got to his feet and fought off the second aggressor.
Escandon had one of the aggressors in a choke until he heard the sirens of police vehicles responding to the incident. He let the man go and the two aggressors fled. The two suspects that fled were later arrested not too far from the scene.
Escandon did not suffer serious injuries during the altercation, only minor nicks and scratches on his hands. The victim on the ground suffered a laceration above his eye, which required stitches and other minor lacerations on his body.
According to the police report, the two male suspects were gang-affiliated brothers who were returning to seek retribution against owners of a store for banning them from the establishment just days earlier.
The store owners claimed the two suspects said they would, “return with their homies and kill them.”
The store owners, fearing for their lives the day the men returned, called police.
The situation escalated while store owners and the suspects exchanged words. A bystander witnessing the verbal altercation approached the two male suspects and told them they needed to leave. The witness carried a cane-sword; in the other, he wielded the sword portion of the cane that was behind his back so the suspects would not see it.
His stealth failed.
One of the suspects noticed the weapon poorly hidden behind his back.
Spotting the blade, the suspects attacked the witness. Escandon arrived shortly after one of the suspects grabbed the sword from the victim and the other was stomping his head and torso. Escandon’s assistance prevented the suspects from further injuring their victim.
Master Sgt. Yaphet Grimes, the communications chief for 3rd ANGLICO and Escandon’s staff non-commissioned officer-in-charge, commended him for his actions to break-up the assault on the local Lancaster man.
“He’s an outstanding and good-to-go Marine,” said Grimes, an 18-year Marine Corps veteran. “He’s always going to get the job done, and every time he performs the job he’s going to give his 100 percent.”
| Date Taken: | 03.13.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 03.13.2012 10:33 |
| Story ID: | 85161 |
| Location: | LANCASTER, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 4,681 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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