The SandGram

BZ Tura Brady and Jeremy DuMont

These two young men have what it takes!! Hats off to Tura Brady and Jeremy DuMont, you will have a great career in the Marine Corps and it’s nice to see that our ranks are being filled with upstanding young men like yourselves.   Your parents raised you right and this Marine LtCol is proud of you!!!

Semper Fi,

Taco

 Two prospective U.S. Marines had quite the warmup before physical training Wednesday afternoon after chasing down shoplifters fleeing from the Aiken Mall.

Tura Brady and Jeremy DuMont, both 18 and students at South Aiken High School, are part of the U.S. Marine Corps Delayed Entry Program. The two teenagers were with a small group at the Marine recruiting office in the Aiken Mall on Whiskey Road getting ready to take a run, but they didn’t expect it to start the way it did.

Around2:30 p.m., two men were seen sprinting past the recruiting office with a shopping bag, and a loss prevention officer was pursuing them but not able to keep up, according to Gunnery Sgt. Ian Durham. 

Marine recruiter Sgt. Raymond Madison, who was in the office readying his recruits to exercise, commented that someone needed to stop them. He then looked up, and the recruiting office door was closing as Brady and DuMontrushed out to chase the shoplifters.

“Initially, I was shocked,” Madison said, adding that he then became worried and was quite relieved when he found out they were both OK. “I didn’t expect them to react at first.”

What happened next was like something out of an action flick.

“He was Batman; I was Superman,” Brady said.

According to Durham, one of the shoplifters hopped into a truck driven by a woman as the other man ran through the parking lot toward Red Lobster.

DuMont chased the male suspect through the parking lot by foot until he dropped the stolen merchandise. DuMont grabbed the bag, jogged back to the mall and handed it back to loss prevention officer, who was then calling the police, Durham said.

The driver of the truck attempted to hit Brady with the vehicle, said Durham. He dodged it and ended up hopping into the bed of the truck, which started to move erratically through the parking lot as the driver attempted to knock Brady off, Durham said.

Brady held on until they were about a quarter of a mile down Whiskey Road from the mall. Due to heavy traffic, the driver had to slow down. Brady jumped off the back of the truck, jotted down the license plate number on the side of his boot and headed back to the mall, Durham said.

Brady said he wrote the number on his boot because it was raining and he was afraid the ink would wash away if he wrote it on his hand.

Once the two were back at the mall, information was turned over to mall security officers, who filed a report with Aiken Public Safety.

According to the report, merchandise had been taken from Dillard’s and Belk. No arrests have been made.

Brady and DuMont were not injured in their pursuit and even did their physical training when they got back.

“It’s uncommon for young people to risk their own safety to do the right thing, which is why we’re extremely proud of them,” Durham said.

The teenagers were nervous to tell their parents about what happened but said they were proud and thankful that they weren’t hurt.

DuMont said his only regret is that he didn’t catch the guy.

“I wish I was faster,” DuMont said.

Both DuMont and Brady are excited to graduate high school and go to boot camp. Durham said he believes they will make great Marines as they showed an example of one of the USMC principles – doing the right thing in the face of danger.

“It was just an instant reaction, and we train these guys to react instantly even before they go to boot camp,” Durham said. “They did the right thing without hesitation.”

The two future Marines said their adventure on Wednesday was exciting, but they don’t think they want a repeat experience.

“That was fun,” Brady said, laughing. “Let’s never do this again.”

Follow Aiken Standard on facebook and twitter for breaking news, updates, weather, traffic, and more.

Share with us! Email your story to mystory@aikenstandard.com, or send us your photos and videos to editorial@aikenstandard.com.

Tags: Future Marines, jeremy dumont, Marines, Outstanding character, tura brady