Franklin man chases children with knife, neighbor intervenes

FRANKLIN, Va. (WAVY) – Surveillance cameras in Norfleet Street homes captured a man armed with a knife chasing two children Wednesday.

Terrel Majette was talking to his brother on his porch around 6 p.m. when suddenly a little boy and a little girl came running toward them.

“I was sitting here on my steps and the little girl said, ‘There’s a man with a knife following us,'” Majette told 10 On Your Side.

Majette told us that the boy ran home while the girl ran to his porch, frightened.

“I immediately ran into the house, grabbed my gun and came back out. As I walked onto the porch, my brother told me from the car, ‘Hey brother, he’s attacking, he’s attacking,'” Majette said.

The camera on Majette’s doorbell recorded the exchange in which he calmly ordered the man to return to his house and not to enter his property.

“Going into protection mode, going into father mode, that was the first thing,” Majette said.

Majette’s wife Rachel led the child inside and simultaneously called 911.

“She was shocked, she was crying and I think when she got home she was still crying, her grandmother said,” Rachel Majette said.

10 On Your Side obtained additional video from the doorbell that clearly shows the man with the knife attempting to attack the children next door and then beginning to stab the ground.

“The last thing I wanted to do was hurt him or see him hurt any of those kids,” Majette said. “I was robbed at gunpoint in Atlanta in 2019 and that shook me to the core. I’m dealing with that and I’m getting a clinical diagnosis of PTSD. … You know, when it came up, all I could think about was what I would do if it was my child.”

The Franklin Police Department incident report states that the man is 29 years old and known to police. He was taken to a nearby hospital. Majette couldn’t have asked for a better outcome given the stressful situation.

“I’m just glad I was able to keep my composure and de-escalate the situation,” Majette said.

The persecuted children suffered no harm.