‘You always have to be ready’
Marine veteran who stopped robbery says he was at right place at right time
The Marine Corps veteran who stopped an armed robbery attempt early Wednesday morning at a Chevron gas station says he did what anybody else would have done.
“I guess I was just in the right place at the right time,’’ James Kilcer said. “I was doing what needed to be done.”
A Yuma Proving Ground employee, Kilcer said he was on his way to work when he stopped at the Chevron, 10747 E. North Frontage Road, to get gas.
“It is a little out of the way, but whenever I need gas I always go there,” Kilcer said. “I’m a pretty regular customer and I know the clerk who was on duty that morning pretty well.”
In video of the incident, Kilcer is seen standing inside the Chevron talking to the clerk when a masked individual, followed by another masked person, enters the store carrying a pistol.
Two other suspects can be seen just outside the door.
“I heard the door open and when I turned around I saw the guys coming in and that one of them had a gun,” Kilcer said. “It was definitely not what I was expecting, but you always have to be ready for that kind of stuff.”
As the armed suspect walked toward the counter with his gun pointed at the cashier, Kilcer immediately sprang into action and wrestled the gun away from him.
“They were not looking at me. They were fixed on the clerk, yelling at him to open the register,” Kilcer said. “I scanned them for any other weapons and didn’t see any. I knew he was my guy at that point.”
Kilcer had just bought two bottles of Gatorade, two cans of Monster energy drinks and a snack, and the items were in a bag hanging from his wrist.
When Kilcer swung his arm to grab the gun, the sack of items hit the armed robber in the face.
“I dropped my keys and before they even hit the floor, I was on him,” Kilcer said. “I didn’t realize my bag was still wrapped around my wrist.”
After wrestling the gun away from the armed
would-be robber, and not knowing if the others were going to attack him, Kilcer then spun the robber around, and, while holding him from behind, put the gun to his head.
“They couldn’t get away fast enough,” Kilcer said of the other accomplices, who were already fleeing the scene.
Kilcer then pinned the suspect on the ground and held him there until deputies from the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office arrived.
While on the ground, the suspect told Kilcer that he was only 14 years old and that he had been hurt in the struggle.
“His nose was bleeding, but I told him that I didn’t care,” Kilcer said. “I also had some other colorful language for him that isn’t printable.”
The suspect, whose name is not being released due to his age, was later booked into the Yuma County Juvenile Justice Center on one count of armed robbery and one count of aggravated assault.
The other suspects are still being sought.
A native of upstate New York, Kilcer served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2007 to 2011 and was stationed at Marine Corps Air
Station Yuma.
He was assigned to Marine Air Control Squadron (MACS) 1.
Kilcer has worked at YPG the past four years, and is currently with the threat systems and target simulations division.