Tommi Jones Kelley, a Houston area police officer, was pumping gas on Friday (September 4).
The story of slain fellow police officer Darren Goforth still fresh on her mind, she turned around and grew immediately nervous at the young man standing behind her.
What happened next took her completely off guard, she would later say in a statement on her Facebook page.
Kelley said the boy was someone she had never seen before and he was “standing right behind me and says, ‘Ma’am do you mind if I stand her behind you while you get your gas?”
Tommi Jones Kelley wasn’t sure what to make of this request, so she asked the boy to clarify why he would want to do such a thing.
“His reply: ‘to make sure you stay safe.’”
She continued .
“Finished pumping my gas and he was still standing there in the rain. He then just walked off and started to get into the passenger side of a car…. I asked the driver if she was his mom and indeed she was. I told her she has an amazing son and she said he wanted to make sure no one hurt me.”
“Yes, I’m the one with the gun on my hip while he stood there empty handed, but he for sure had my ‘6’ while my back was turned.”
“With all the terror going on nationwide, this reassured me there are still some pretty awesome individuals out there!”
Once this story made its way to Facebook, it was only a matter of time before other sites would take it national. Mad World News posted it on Saturday, and it has since led to hundreds of comments while helping the original post skyrocket in popularity on the social media platform.
At this time, it has seen around 1,300 likes and (wait for it) 198,000 shares along with hundreds of comments.
Given the fact that Tommi Jones Kelley was in the exact same situation as Darren Goforth, this story was particularly poignant. Unfortunately, Goforth was killed after being shot multiple times in the back.
His shooter, who was captured shortly thereafter, has been accused of being a Black Lives Matter follower, though no direct links to the movement have been made at this time.
However, one BLM supporter, Monica Foy , who openly admits to backing the movement, said that Goforth “deserved to die” for his “creepy perv eyes” on Twitter. The backlash to that comment has dominated national headlines over the last week.
With stories like that of Tommi Jones Kelley, do you think there is more support for the police?
[Image of Tommi Jones Kelley via Facebook, linked above]