Thief apologizes to man he robbed at gunpoint 3 years ago

Courtesy of Frank Somerville Facebook page. Courtesy of Frank Somerville Facebook page. Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Thief apologizes to man he robbed at gunpoint 3 years ago 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

"Today I got to witness the power of amends & healing."

Kimberly Soto posted this story about how her boyfriend apologized in person to a man he robbed at gunpoint three years ago. That's them hugging.

She wrote:

JAN 27th of 2013, my other half was at a dark place in his life and on that horrible night he made the decision that led him into jail & fire camp. He robbed a man that was selling flowers at a local gas station in Baypoint at gun point.

Here we are almost 3 years later and he had the opportunity to approach the same man at the same store in the same spot and make amends.

He told him he was the guy that robbed him 3 years ago. The guy jokingly said, " I never got my money back for that!"

Joey then handed him money & explained to him that it doesn't make up for it, he's not asking for forgiveness, he just wants to give closure and hope that the man can further heal. They put their arms around each other and the man looked at Joey smiling and told him that he forgives him. SO POWERFUL.

Joey goes to walk away and the guy brings a dozen roses to him and told him to give them to me and that's exactly what he did. They are beautiful & so was this experience. Thank you god for this man of mine. We do recover.

--Kimberly Soto

The power of saying your sorrry. And the power of forgiveness. It's a beautiful thing.

#RealPeopleRealStoriesRealLife

Frank Somerville is a contributor to SFGATE and anchors the 5, 6, and 10 p.m. news on KTVU. This post originally appeared on his Facebook page.