COBB COUNTY, GA (CBS ATLANTA) -
Zach Somerset may be homeless, but he certainly has a heart.
"When it comes down to someone else's safety, I am going to put my life on the line to protect someone else," said Somerset.
Smyrna police say the 21-year-old and his friend, Shawn Thompson are heroes. Investigators say they stopped 27-year-old Maurice Jackson from raping a 15-year-old girl.
"I wouldn't have expected that guy to do that because he was just a normal acting person, but he just spaced out that night," said Somerset.
It happened a little more than a week ago while Somerset, Thompson, Jackson and the victim were walking along Church Rd. near South Cobb Drive.
"We decided to go get something to eat and somehow the group got split up and me and Zach ended up in one group and they ended up like a couple hundred feet behind us," said Thompson.
"We heard a scream," said Somerset.
"I'm talking about like a traumatizing scream that I cannot even forget," said Thompson.
"I just kept repeating, 'Keep screaming so I can find you. Keep screaming,'" said Somerset.
Both men said they ran to the voice and came across Jackson and the girl.
"We saw her in the bushes. He had her held down you know, punching her in the face and in the ribs," said Thompson.
"I just grabbed him basically and I was like, 'Dude get off of her' and he wouldn't get off of her," said Somerset.
"I was like, 'You are crazy. This is a friend of mine. I am not going to let you do this man.' So I grabbed him around his throat and his stomach and I picked him up and I told him, 'I'm going to kill you dude. You better calm down right quick,'" said Thompson.
Thompson said Jackson eventually calmed down, the victim ran away and he held Jackson until police came. Investigators said both men prevented a bad situation from getting worse.
"I never thought anything like that would happen," Somerset said.
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Maurice Jackson
