Key Takeaways
- Two armed citizens thwarted an attempted kidnapping of a 74-year-old woman outside a Florida church.
- Jose Tsu Zamora, a convicted felon, ambushed his former girlfriend but fled when confronted by bystanders.
- Police noted that without the intervention of the armed citizens, the kidnapping would have likely succeeded.
- Zamora faces multiple felony charges, including attempted kidnapping and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
- The incident emphasizes the importance of armed citizens in preventing violent crimes.
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PORT ST. LUCIE, FLA. — Two armed citizens stopped a convicted felon from dragging a 74-year-old woman into a car outside a Florida church, and police say stepping in likely saved her life.
It happened around 10:49 a.m. on May 31 at First United Methodist Church on Southwest Prima Vista Boulevard. Police say 64-year-old Jose Tsu Zamora of North Miami ambushed his former girlfriend as she arrived for Sunday services.
According to the arrest report, Zamora blocked the woman, grabbed her, pressed a weapon against her and began pulling her toward his car. She threw herself to the ground to keep from being moved.
That is when two male bystanders, both armed, rushed in and confronted Zamora. He let the woman go and fled in a dark two-door hatchback.
Police Chief Leo Niemczyk credited the two men directly. He said the kidnapping “would have been successful” without them, and that he believed Zamora intended to harm her.
Zamora was no stranger to the system. Niemczyk said he has a significant violent criminal history that includes a past attempted kidnapping, along with witness retaliation arrests in Miami-Dade County. The victim had secured a domestic violence injunction against him in March, and he was already wanted for violating it.
He was also a convicted felon, barred by law from possessing a firearm or ammunition. None of it stopped him. Not the felony record, not the injunction, not the open warrant. Felons who want a weapon find one, and we see it constantly. A court order on paper does not stop a man in a parking lot. Two armed citizens did.
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Police say Zamora told the victim something chilling: “If I can’t have you, no one can.”
Investigators are still confirming the exact weapon. Police say Zamora was armed during the attack, and his family later turned over a pellet gun that officers are testing to determine whether it was the one used. The victim had every reason to believe the threat was real.
Zamora faces five felony charges, including attempted kidnapping while armed with a firearm, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, battery on a person 65 or older, aggravated stalking and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Officers and U.S. Marshals arrested him that evening in the Miami area. He is being held on a $745,000 bond.
I have covered enough of these cases to know how they end without someone willing to intervene. Paper restrictions do not physically stop a determined predator. People who are armed and ready do. A 74-year-old woman is alive today because two strangers were carrying when it counted.
