Yreka, Calif. — Only on NBC5 – the Yreka community is calling a Montague man a hero after he stopped and tackled a woman shooting a BB pistol on Main Street.
“A little gun could have done a lot of damage. It could’ve killed somebody,” Jay Dancer said.
Dancer has been called a hero time and time again on social media. He was in Yreka on Friday, when he and his wife heard a loud noise.
“I figured it was a skateboarder coming down the street. My wife said she knew it was something different,” he said.
The noise wasn’t from kids playing around. Police said it was a 55-year-old woman, Kimula Dowell from Weed, standing on South Main Street, shooting a BB pistol at car windows.
“I kind of assessed the situation and got myself between them and the shooter,” he said.
When Dowell started walking away, Dancer knew he had to act.
“That’s when I knew I had to do something or she was going to hurt somebody,” he said.
Before he could stop her, Dancer said Dowell went after a city bus.
“I took the opportunity when they were focused on the bus, to run across the street and tackle them. Really hard – because I thought I was tackling a really big man,” he said.
Dancer held Dowell to the ground until police showed up.
“The situation could have gone a lot different. But I’m very thankful it turned out the way it did,” he said.
And the community is thankful for him. Yreka Police Department posted about dancer on Tuesday.
In less than 24 hours, the post got over 400 reactions and 100 comments saying things like, “Thank you for sacrificing your self to protect others”; “Once a Marine, always a Marine”; and “Brave person, thank you.”
Though Dancer hasn’t quite come to terms yet that the community is calling him a hero.
“I just like to think that anybody that was in my shoes, would have done the same thing,” he said.
Dowell was arrested for exhibiting a deadly weapon and possession of a concealed dagger.
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.