Hialeah, Florida. January 18, 2016. Tom Thumb Gas Station.
Angie Padron was traveling to Miami with her 1-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son when she stopped for gas at the Tom Thumb station at 77 West Okeechobee Road.
While she pumped gas, two armed men ran toward her vehicle. One headed for the driver's side door. The other came at her.
Her children were inside the car.
The Response
Angie started yelling. "My kids are in the car. Don't get in the car."
Yelling didn't work.
So she went after them with her bare hands.
Surveillance cameras captured her pulling one man out of her car. She ripped off his mask. She fought.
"I didn't even think about the guns," she said later on Good Morning America. "I didn't think about what they were going to do to me or what they could have done to me. I just thought about getting the kids out."
Both suspects took off running.
The Suspects
Juan Carlos Gonzalez, Nicholas Rosado, and Rebecca Utria (the getaway driver) were caught and arrested nearby shortly after the attempted carjacking.
They faced charges for attempted armed carjacking and eluding police, according to the Hialeah Police Department.
What the Surveillance Video Shows
The gas station cameras captured everything. A mother pumping gas. Two men running toward her vehicle. Her physical fight to pull one out of the driver's seat. The suspects fleeing when they realized she wasn't going to stop.
The video went viral. People watched a woman take on two armed men in real-time.
The Guns
Both suspects were armed. Angie knew this. She saw the weapons.
She fought them anyway.
Not because she thought she could win. Not because she had training. Not because she had a plan.
Because her children were in the car and she couldn't let armed men drive away with them.
What She Said
In her interview on Good Morning America, Angie Padron explained her thinking�or lack thereof.
"I didn't even think about the guns."
That's the critical part. Not that she was brave. Not that she was strong. That she didn't think.
Because thinking might have led to a different choice. Thinking might have involved risk calculation. Thinking might have resulted in compliance.
She didn't think. She acted. She fought two armed men with her bare hands because they were trying to take her car with her children inside.
The Outcome
The suspects fled. Angie's children were safe. The three criminals were arrested.
No one was shot. No one was seriously injured. The children never left their car seats.
What the Charges Mean
Attempted armed carjacking. Eluding police.
The suspects tried to steal a car at gunpoint with children inside. They failed because a mother fought them off.
They ran. Police caught them.
They went to jail. The family went home.
What Remains
Angie Padron became a viral hero. The surveillance footage played on news stations nationwide. People praised her courage.
She didn't call it courage. She called it instinct.
"I just thought about getting the kids out."
That's what a mother does at a gas pump when armed men try to take her car. She doesn't think about the guns. She thinks about her children.
And then she fights.
Sources: ABC News, Local 10 News