ABCNews.com(PHOENIX) — An Arizona man who killed an assailant who shot a state trooper spoke out t for the first time since the incident earlier this month.
“I never would have dreamt that I was gonna save somebody’s life, let alone take the life of another individual,” Thomas Yoxall, 43, said Tuesday at a news conference.
Authorities in the state have credited Yoxall with saving the life of Arizona State Trooper Edward Andersson.
Yoxall appeared emotional Tuesday as he recounted finding Andersson being beaten by a man after allegedly shooting the trooper in the chest.
“My commands were ignored by the suspect as Trooper Andersson called out for help, and I alleviated the threat to him,” Yoxall told reporters of his using his handgun to shoot the alleged assailant.
Yoxall said that it was “difficult to reconcile” saving somebody’s life but also having to take somebody else’s in the process. However, when asked by a reporter if he would have done it again, Yoxall responded, “Yes.”
“I just know that doing the right thing sometimes has a price and that price is severe,” he said. “I wouldn’t change it because another man got to go home to his family, and his family gets to keep him for a little while longer.”
Yoxall added that he does not consider himself a hero and called himself an “ordinary person […] put in extraordinary circumstances.”
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