The worst place to commit a crime is next to a police station. The second worst place is next to a martial arts gym.
KHOU-TV reported that a family of Tae Kwon Do instructors stopped a 19-year-old Alex Robinson -- who was later charged with attempted sexual assault \-- when they heard him struggling with a woman next door to their facility on Tuesday.
When the An family -- instructors at Yong-In Tae Kwon Do -- came back from lunch on Tuesday around 4 p.m., they heard cries for help from next door at Cricket Wireless.
When they went to investigate, they said they found Robinson on the floor, pinning down a woman. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told reporters the man was attempting to sexually assault the victim.
Grandmaster Han An and his son Simon took down Robinson. While Christian An helped his brother and father, Hannah An and her mother, Hong An, took the woman next door to their facility.
Hannah later said they were "making sure that she's OK because she needed that, after that experience."
The Houston Chronicle reported Grandmaster An held Robinson, for 10 minutes before police arrived on the scene. Simon An told reporters Robinson "was clawing and biting my dad."
Robinson seemed to pick the worst time and place for his alleged crime as the Yong-In Tae Kwon Do website states Grandmaster An is an 8th-dan black belt while the rest of the family are 4th-dan black belts.
Sheriff Gonzalez posted to social media platform X on Wednesday, commending the family for their actions.
TO THE RESCUE: A group of good samaritans rushed to safe the day. @HCSO_D4Patrol deputies were dispatched to a disturbance in the 6800 block of Fry Road. Upon arrival, instructors from the Yong-In Tae Kwon Do dojo had a male pinned to the ground. During the course of their
1/4 pic.twitter.com/R3AlnoqpCl
— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) June 19, 2024
While many are calling the family heroes, Hannah An remained humble in the moment. "I thank everybody who's calling us that, but still, I think anybody can do it."
Grandmaster An said, "I'm very proud of my family," before expressing that he was just thankful to be where he was needed in the moment.
Obviously, when the police aren't present, we would all like a group of black belts to have our backs.
While this woman was saved by God from an alleged attacker in sending this family to her aid, the world is a dangerous place and none of us should be defenseless. Hoping for the best is not a plan -- it is ignorance.
We can't all be black belts, but we can be responsible gun owners who can protect ourselves, should it ever be necessary.
For every one story of a group like the An family helping an alleged victim, there are 10 where the crime is committed to its devasting conclusion. Nobody came to help those people.
The victims could not defend themselves and the result was tragedy.
While we love feel-good stories about inspiring actions, they remind us that the world isn't always a safe place.
