An armed Marine veteran is being hailed a hero for stopping a knife-wielding man authorities say is responsible for stabbing 11 people at a Walmart in Michigan on Saturday.
Cellphone footage shows a man family members have identified as Derrick Perry yelling at the suspected attacker to drop his knife in the parking lot of the Traverse City store. He held him at gunpoint – without firing a shot – until law enforcement arrived.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Victor Davis Hanson, author of The End of Everything, to discuss Perry’s valiant effort and why he should be an example to us all.
The Stabbing Spree
Around 5pm on Saturday, 11 people were stabbed in what is believed to have been a random attack at a Traverse City, Michigan, Walmart after a man started going after shoppers with a folding knife.
According to authorities, the lone suspect is 42-year-old Bradford James Gille. He has a history of arrests for drug offenses and vandalism and now faces terrorism charges and 11 charges of assault with intent to murder.
The victims, who range in age from 29 to 84 years old, are all expected to survive, but the bloodshed may have been greater if not for Perry’s quick action. Video shows the veteran in the store’s parking lot demanding the attacker drop the knife while brandishing a small handgun.
Several other bystanders joined him in leading the suspect away from the store and surrounding him until police arrived at the scene. Grand Traverse County Sheriff Michael Shea commended Perry and the others for their bravery. “It’s not very often that we have citizens that are willing to step up and take action, and I ask that we grant them the privacy that they need right now,” he said. “If they choose to make a public statement, they will. But I would ask that we all just give them a little space and say, attaboy.”
The New York Post reported Perry’s daughter identified her father as the armed man in the video on Facebook and wrote that his response is a “proud daughter moment” for her. His daughter-in-law also weighed in, calling him a “true hero.”
The Heroism
While Hanson lamented how so-called ‘woke’ prosecutors have led people to lose trust in law enforcement and the justice system, he said Perry’s response is a reminder of what is good. “Once he did that, other people came to his aid because they wanted to participate in something noble,” he noted.
Megyn praised Perry for running “toward the suspect while others fled” and said the world needs more people like him and fellow Marine veteran Daniel Penny, who was acquitted in the 2023 death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway after a highly publicized trial.
“You need these heroes. This is why we shouldn’t prosecute the Daniel Pennys,” she said. “You need, in particular, American men who know what they are doing… to stand up when they see someone in trouble, and to do the thing that 99 percent of the rest of us are too scared to do.”
“One of the things I always pray for is that my children will be strong and will also help protect those who aren’t,” she added. “It’s like one of the main things you hope for your children, right, that they’ll develop their own… emotional and mental strength, but that they’ll also use those gifts to help people who aren’t as fortunate in that lane. And this guy in the Walmart in Michigan did it.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Hanson by tuning in to episode 1,117 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.