Fort Worth

Fort Worth Good Samaritan Stabbed in Convenience Store Scuffle

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A Fort Worth man is recovering after he stepped in to help a convenience store clerk and wound up stabbed by the man he hoped to protect her from.

Bryce Baker said he’d often stopped at the Chevron gas station near I-35 and Berry Street, which he stopped at with his family around 5:30 Monday evening.

He’d followed another man in and was waiting in line when he noticed a disruption at the register.

“I sat there for a good probably, you know, two, three, four minutes, you know, four or five minutes, of them just screaming back and forth,” said Baker.

According to Fort Worth Police, the store’s clerk asked that man, identified as James Gilmore, to leave after he harassed customers.

That’s when Baker saw him pull something from his pocket, which he’d soon learn was a knife.

“Whenever I've seen his hand go up like that, I just went up behind him and I put them into a headlock and tried to back him up towards the door. I kicked. I ended up kicking the door open with my foot, and I went to go sling him out. And then that's whenever he said, ‘That's how we're gonna play?’ And then, his hand went like that, and it stabbed me,” said Baker.

The two continued to fight while Baker’s wife, Trinity, and the couple’s three-year-old and one-year-old kids watched from the car.

Both men left by ambulance.

Though they didn’t realize it at first, Gilmore punctured Baker’s colon, resulting in a five-hour surgery, four-day hospital stay and likely another six to eight weeks out of work for Baker, who’s the family’s sole provider.

Still, he said jumping in to help was simply something he had to do.

“There were too many people there. And if something was to pop off, I didn't want you know, little kids or, you know what I mean? There was a lot of little kids in the McDonalds, so I wasn't trying for anybody to really get hurt,” he said.

Fort Worth Police arrested Gilmore and charged him with two counts of aggravated assault.

To help Baker as he recovers, donations can be made to a GoFundMe set up by his family.

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