ORLANDO, Fla. – The man who fired his gun at a suspect during a machete attack at work spoke with News 6 about the ordeal.
James Guthrie said he has a concealed weapons permit and used his gun to fight off the suspect.
[WARNING: Video above may be considered graphic]
In a video posted by Active Self Protection on YouTube, Guthrie said he is shown wrestling with the suspect, 31-year-old Oraine Mitchell Grant.
He said at one point, the suspect managed to get the gun from him.
“I literally looked down the barrel of my own pistol and didn’t get a bullet in my head,” Guthrie said.
Guthrie said the suspect continued to use the machete to attack workers inside.
“I grabbed him, started pulling him away from the wall, as we were coming away from the wall, he’s [attacking] me with the machete, trying to cut me more,” Guthrie said.
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Guthrie said Grant had been showing up at the day labor service for about six months prior. He said on the day of the attack, Grant had been sent home because there was not enough work. Guthrie said he returned two hours later with the machete.
“What I saw was a machete hanging on my coworker’s neck,” Guthrie said. “I drew my pistol, took two shots as he was coming at me, and hit him once in the arm and then he [attacked] me, we went into the wall and started wrestling.”
Guthrie also said he served in the U.S. Army and has been trained to fight in combat. He said that those skills likely came into play that day.
“It was just reaction so, I’m not like some super crazy awesome dude. I did a few years in the army and so I have a little bit of training.”
Guthrie said he first left his house without his firearm that day but went home to retrieve it before arriving at the office.
According to online court records, Grant has pleaded not guilty to his charges. He is due back in court in July.