Thomas Autry is a former Marine corporal, but he doesn't consider himself a brave man for fighting off five assailants, one of whom died.
The soft-spoken Autry was somber Tuesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after he was attacked late Memorial Day while walking home from work at a Midtown Atlanta restaurant.
"I'm sorry this whole thing happened. I hate this world has gotten to the point where it is predatory," said a shaken Autry, speaking briefly to reporters from behind the screen door of his Atlanta apartment.
Police say Autry, 36, acted in self-defense when he stabbed 17-year-old Amy Martin, who died of wounds to her chest. Another alleged assailant, Christopher Daniel, 18, was in critical condition Tuesday night with stab wounds to his upper torso.
The group was part of a teenage robbery crew that had struck twice this month, authorities said.
Prowling for a victim just after 11 p.m. Monday, the group might have mistaken the tall, thin Autry for an easy mark as the waiter walked home alone after finishing a shift at Jocks & Jills, police said.
But the Desert Storm veteran, cornered by his pursuers on Penn Avenue at 4th Street, fought back with a pocket knife.
More than his military training, Autry said, "what really helped me was growing up in New York."
He said he knew to stay alert on his long walk home and turned to investigate after seeing a white cat scurry across the street. That's when he saw his attackers piling out of a dark blue 2007 Cadillac, he said.
One of the teens carried a shotgun.
"My first instinct was to run," said Autry. "Those kids were younger than me. They caught me and cornered me. It was about life preservation."
Atlanta police homicide Detective Danny Stephens said that during the chase, Autry was trying to get into his backpack to get the knife, which slowed him down.
As he ran, Autry repeatedly yelled "Fire," which Stephens said attracted the attention of nearby residents, who called 911.
Cornered, Autry kicked the shotgun from the hands of one attacker and stabbed Martin and Daniel. Another suspect attempted to shoot Autry with a .380 pistol but it misfired, Stephens said.
The attackers ran back to the Cadillac and drove to Atlanta Medical Center, where police arrested them.
Police say Autry suffered a cut to his hand. His right index finger was bandaged but he declined to discuss his injuries.
Martin's 17th birthday was earlier this month. Relatives said she was dating one of the boys who was arrested. A 10th- grader at Grady High, Martin was scheduled to take a final exam in social studies Tuesday, relatives said.
Early police reports indicated Martin was pregnant but the autopsy concluded otherwise, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office.
Autry sighed with relief after learning the teenager was not pregnant. "That really makes me feel a whole lot better that she wasn't with child," he said. "I'm sorry to her family. I just feel real bad at the situation."
The surviving suspects were identified as Kendall Barksdale, 17, of Atlanta; Christopher Hayes, 17, of Douglasville; a 16-year old whose name is being withheld because of his age, and Daniel, whose address was not listed. They were arrested on charges of aggravated assault and armed robbery.
Martin, nicknamed "Strawberry" for her sweet disposition as a young girl, had fallen "into a bad crowd," according to relatives who gathered at the southwest Atlanta apartment where she and her family lived.
Her stepfather, Chris Roberts, said Martin's death resulted from "her wrong choices in friends, and being in the wrong place, with the wrong people.
"She wasn't brought up that way," he said.
Martin's younger sister Kristie Roberts, 12, blamed Martin's boyfriend of three years, the youngest suspect in the group.
"She wouldn't have been in that car but for [him]," Kristie said.
The teen's stepfather chimed in: "I told her to stay away from these people who have no ambition but trouble."
Autry said he hopes the culprits can be rehabilitated and not just locked up.
He was clearly troubled by the attack. Concerned about his safety and that of his girlfriend, Autry had his door locks changed Tuesday and he asked to not be photographed.
Autry was honorably discharged in 1992 after serving in Operation Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia. When told that many people consider him a hero for his actions, Autry disagreed.
"The heroes are those guys out there fighting for us every day and not getting respect," he said, referring to military personnel fighting in Iraq and elsewhere. "That [killing the attacker] wasn't admirable, it was fight or flight — and I tried the flight."
