In reference to the FWB Chick-fil-A employee who ran to help a woman with a baby who was being carjacked, we want to say a sincere thank you to Ms. Kelner for providing video of a portion of the encounter. (see prior post). A major shout-out to this young man for his courage! pic.twitter.com/2Lcwe46azv

— OkaloosaSheriff (@OCSOALERTS) September 14, 2022

Not all heroes wear capes, sometimes a Chick-fil-A cap will suffice. At least that’s the case in the admirably selfless tale of a fast food employee preventing a carjacking attempt. In the afternoon of September 14 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Chick-fil-A employee Mykel Gordon is being celebrated after coming to the rescue of a woman and her baby.

According to Today.com, Gordon heard the unnamed victim screaming for help outside of the Chick-fil-A location he was working at. A threatening man approached “wielding a stick and demanding her keys” as the woman was taking her baby out of the car. 

Pleading for help, the woman said the man grabbed her keys from her pants waistband then opened her car and got inside. Her cries for help made Gordon’s hero senses tingle, and he jumped to her aid, wrestling the unknown carjacker to the parking lot ground.

A witness named Molly Kelner managed to capture a part of the altercation on camera. In a Facebook post by the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office, onlookers shouted as the struggle occurred. “She had a baby in her hands. How dare you!” a woman's voice shouts in the video posted. Gordon thankfully escaped, only receiving a punch to the face. He held the assailant on the ground long enough for bystanders to assist until police arrived.

The attacker turned out to be 43-year-old William Branch of DeFuniak Springs and was charged with carjacking with a weapon and battery. Apparently, the same man had been involved in another incident at the restaurant earlier that day. Gordon told deputies in a news release that the man was seen reaching into another person’s vehicle, unlocking the driver’s door and entering the vehicle. 

In the Facebook post above, which has received thousands of views, Gordon is praised by the local authorities as the caption reads:

“He's what we would call a humble hero.

Word of FWB Chick-fil-A employee Mykel Gordon's actions to stop a man trying to carjack a woman holding a baby Wednesday have spread nationwide.

Today Sheriff Eric Aden and members of the OCSO went to meet Mykel at his workplace, delivering a special coin, a personal thanks for his quick response to seeing someone in danger, and an Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office Community Service Award.

We're grateful for the courage of people like Mykel, and we're grateful to Molly Kelner whose video helped capture "the capture" everyone is talking about!”