In Brazil, a mother who is six months pregnant risked her life to protect her son when a gunman opened fire.
On January 24, Rafaela Dantas was having a meal with her husband, son, and friends at a burger restaurant in the Federal District town of Recanto das Emas when the incident happened.
While at the restaurant, Dantas spotted two people seemingly having an argument with two other customers.
A CCTV footage from the restaurant showed the two suspects entering the place before approaching the customers, telling them not to leave. They made clear that they intended to rob the restaurant and steal the belongings of the customers.
One of the suspects, wearing a black hooded jumper, aimed his gun at them before a male customer charged at the suspects, pushing the second suspect backward into a table. After steadying himself, the customer backed away with his hands in the air.
As Brazilian news outlet G1 reported, the gunman fired towards the male customer but missed. While watching the terrifying scene, Dantas quickly grabbed her four-year-old son and pulled him with her to the ground.
The pregnant mother shielded her son with her body as the man in the striped shirt rushed over to where the family had been sitting and grabbed two of their phones before leaving the scene.
“It is something we never expect to happen. In the hour of despair there, the first reaction we have is quite impulsive,” Dantas told G1 (translated.) “I thought about protecting my son. First thing, my son. Both, right? What’s in my belly too. But, thank God, everything went well, no one was hurt.”
“The cell phone was on the table, and my reaction was just to pull my son and protect him. Even because we do not know the reaction of a child. We, as an adult, already understand a little more, are already aware of the situation, which was putting our life at risk. The child, no. He may have the reaction of being surprised, and run away.”
Luckily, none of the customers were harmed during the robbery. Authorities are investigating the incident after they recovered one of the customer’s stolen phones in a nearby bush, where it was found abandoned after being tracked by its owner.