A man in St. Louis, Missouri, did something very unexpected when he found himself on the sharp end of an axe wielded by a carjacker. Instead of letting fear overtake him when he saw the glittering edge of the attacker’s blade, the man decided to pray. Police say that decision saved him.
The incident occurred on October 18. Then, the victim was approached by a carjacker, who police contend was 37-year-old Romel S. Taylor, who has since been charged with first-degree attempted robbery and felony robbery, both of which stem from two unrelated incidents.
In any case, Mr. Taylor allegedly approached the victim while holding a large axe. When Mr. Taylor approached, the victim was already getting out of his car. Mr. Taylor then allegedly demanded the victim hand over his keys, which is where things took a different tack than normal.
Instead of trying to fight back or running away, the would-be victim instead asked Mr. Talyor to pray with him. Then he actually started praying, at which point Taylor apparently turned and walked away from the would-be victim. According to police, the incident was captured on video. Police added that the prayer seems to have made Mr. Taylor walk away.
Commenters on social media were quick to comment on the miraculous story, praising God and cheering this success of faith. One person, for example, commented on KMOV’s post on Facebook about the incident and wrote, “Amen God is good. ALL DAY EVERYDAY.”
While the prayer might have saved the would-be carjacking victim, it didn’t save Mr. Taylor from the consequences of crime, or from continuing on the path of crime. In fact, two days after the carjacking and prayer incident, Mr. Taylor allegedly tried to hold up a branch of the Bank of America. He was charged by prosecutors with first-degree robbery over that incident.
According to the charging documents in that case, Mr. Taylor allegedly entered the bank and, while gesturing like he was carrying a firearm, handed a note to the teller demanding money. The bank handed him over $4,000 in cash. A police officer was able to identify Mr. Taylor in that case based on a past encounter with him, using a still photo from the surveillance cameras in the bank to identify him.
That is not the only incident for which Mr. Taylor has been charged. He was also charged with counts of armed criminal action and first-degree robbery over another carjacking attempt. There, the victim had opened the trunk of his car outside of his place of work when Mr. Taylor allegedly approached him with a knife and demanded the keys to the vehicle.
The victim there, instead of praying, handed over the keys and Mr. Taylor fled in the vehicle. However, the victim’s cellphone remained in the vehicle and so officers could track the device and locate both the vehicle and Taylor, who was taken into custody. From there, he was charged in both the carjacking and the bank robbery.
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