A Law Enforcement Explorer from Georgia is credited with saving the lives of two Target coworkers who were stabbed during a robbery at the store.

The young man, 17-year-old Mario Alexander, says he knew exactly what to do because of the first-aid training he received in Exploring, the BSA’s career-development program for young men and young women.

Cobb County police Sgt. Wayne Delk told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the department thanks Mario for his quick thinking and for “putting to use the knowledge he has gained from the Cobb County Police Explorer program. His actions more than exemplify our commitment and dedication to public safety.”

How it happened

On Sept. 9, Mario was working his shift at a Target in Marietta, Ga., when he learned that two of his coworkers had been stabbed by an escaped robber.

He rushed over and saw one employee bleeding profusely from a cut in his arm. Mario used his Target shirt to create a tourniquet and stem the flow of blood.

Mario then moved to the other victim and applied gauze and pressure to that person’s neck wound.

“He continued to check on both of his fellow employees until medical personnel and police officers arrived on scene to take over,” Delk told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

His training as an Explorer

Mario’s training as a Law Enforcement Explorer involves more than learning about policework. Law Enforcement Explorers learn first aid techniques, including how to apply a tourniquet to wounds that might otherwise be fatal.

Most first responders have a field tourniquet, but Mario was on the scene as a Target employee, not an Explorer.

So he used what he had: his red Target shirt. He improvised a tourniquet until a proper one was applied by the first Marietta police officer to arrive.

Both stabbing victims survived. Police later arrested and charged the alleged robber.