PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 What began as a peaceful Sunday morning at church quickly turned into a potentially deadly confrontation when two men witnessed an armed man attempting to abduct his former girlfriend..<\/p>\n
James \u201cJimmy\u201d Mawhinney Jr. of Fort Pierce and Todd Moore of Port St. Lucie were honored Aug. 12 with Community Hero Awards from the Port St. Lucie Police Department for their actions during the May 31 incident.<\/p>\n
The awards were presented during the department\u2019s second-quarter awards ceremony at Port St. Lucie City Hall, which recognized law enforcement officers and members of the community.<\/p>\n
Police Chief Leo Niemezyk said Mawhinney and Moore demonstrated \u201cextraordinary courage, selfless actions, and unwavering commitment\u201d in protecting another person during the dangerous encounter.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir actions undoubtedly prevented further violence and potentially saved a life,\u201d Niemezyk wrote in his award letter.<\/p>\n
Mawhinney was outside of the First United Methodist Church on Southwest Prima Vista Boulevard after Sunday service. He was talking with Moore and his wife, Karen, who teaches Sunday school, when he heard his name being called and a car horn.<\/p>\n
Mawhinney walked around the building and saw a man later identified as Jose Tsu Zamora approaching a woman from behind and grabbing her by the arms.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs he grabbed the woman from the rear, a pistol fell from his pants,\u201d Mawhinney said.<\/p>\n
Knowing Zamora was armed, Mawhinney went to his truck, retrieved his firearm and approached him from behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked him to politely leave the property,\u201d Mawhinney said.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Moore saw the confrontation from the nearby playground, where he said there were at least six children and two adults. His wife moved the children inside as Moore jumped a fence and approached the scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 280 pounds, so jumping over a fence, that\u2019s not my first priority,\u201d joked Moore.<\/p>\n
Within moments, Mawhinney and Moore were positioned on opposite sides of Zamora with their guns drawn.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the guy from two different directions,\u201d Mawhinney said. \u201cAnd we de-escalated the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another parishioner who received an award, George Webber, also approached Zamora and told him to stop. Moore said Zamora pointed the firearm at Webber, who backed away.<\/p>\n
Moore then attempted to move behind Zamora, but the suspect noticed him and turned with the firearm in his hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all armed here,\u201d Mawhinney recalled telling him. \u201cYou need to get out of here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goal, both men said, was to end the confrontation without anyone getting hurt. After several tense moments, Zamora eventually walked to his vehicle and drove away without any shots being fired.<\/p>\n
The men immediately provided police with information, including Zamora\u2019s license plate number. Investigators obtained an arrest warrant, and Zamora was arrested later that evening in Hialeah.<\/p>\n
According to Chief Niemezyk, investigators determined Zamora was a convicted felon who was armed with a firearm and attempting to forcibly kidnap the woman while threatening her with the weapon. The victim later told investigators she feared she was going to die.<\/p>\n
For Mawhinney and Moore, the recognition came with little sense that they had done anything extraordinary.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I was just doing what I believe was right,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n
Moore, who grew up in Detroit, said he was accustomed to dangerous situations.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody pointing a gun at you is like just another day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mawhinney, who grew up in Fort Lauderdale in the 1980s, said he felt similarly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is Florida,\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t go waving guns around at people here. It\u2019s probably not good for your health.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both men said the incident could have ended much differently.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Zamora) would have probably got the victim in the car, and she may have been found on the side of the road someplace,\u201d Mawhinney said.<\/p>\n
Instead, the woman escaped, no one was shot \u2014 allowing police to take over the investigation and ultimately make an arrest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 What began as a peaceful Sunday morning at church quickly turned into a potentially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172,563],"class_list":["post-373836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news","tag-st_lucie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}