Assailant With a Hatchet Restrained After Wild Attack at California Gym

A Planet Fitness gym in California gave its members a great workout after they took on a hatchet-wielding attacker who was holding a victim at knifepoint.

Fox & Friends hosted a Friday discussion with one of the heroes to discuss the incident, and why he decided to jump in and help before police arrived at the scene in Corona, about 50 miles outside Los Angeles.

John Keene, Good Samaritan John Keene stated that “I didn’t really hesitate.” I didn’t have any game plan. We walked together over there, and none of us spoke. The exact same thing was done by all of us. And I knew that Steve, the man with the hat was going in to do something. I thought, “If he goes to help I’m going over there too because I didn’t want him to get injured.”

“So, we didn’t really make a decision to do anything, we just did it.”

Keene was working out on a Stairmaster on Tuesday at Corona gym when he heard shouting and screaming from another part of the gym. He turned to see a man with a knife point holding a victim.

After seeing the scene, he switched off the machine and began to walk over to help.

“As I approached, three other men approached me simultaneously.” “We didn’t have any game plan.” Keene stated that “we were just going to do our best to help as much as possible”.

They were able to stop the suspect with a knife, and a hatchet, until the police arrived. The victim was taken to the hospital by police after the incident.

The victim was stabbed multiple times but has since been released and is expected to fully recover.

Keene said that the suspect shouted after entering the gym and then attacked the victim.

“He yelled, ‘Respect us,’ and then mostly ‘give me water.’ The guy in the picture there was a nurse. And he said that he smelled methamphetamine on him. So I think maybe the water had something to do with that. I’m not really sure.”

The fate of the suspect is not yet known.