An armed citizen in the Houston area is receiving praise for coming to the aid of a teenage girl who was being assaulted, stopping the attack and sparing the teen from further harm. 

The incident happened just before midnight on July 28th. Harris County deputies say the teen had stepped off a METRO bus and was headed home, not realizing that she was being followed.

David Garza said he didn't think twice when he heard cries for help that night.

"I looked out the window and I saw a man beating up a woman on the ground ... trying to take her clothes off," he said.

He said he grabbed his gun and knew exactly what he had to do. Video caught the moment Garza jumped out of his apartment to help.

"I ran outside, asked what's going on. The girl screamed, 'I'm 15, help me!' I pointed the gun at him and told him to get off her," Garza said.

"He took his hands off right away. He went chasing after her, I went chasing after him and she got away," he said.

Garza, a middle-school teacher by trade, says this isn't the first time that he's had to intervene to stop someone from hurting a child. He adds that he'd do it again if necessary, and given that the suspect has not yet been identified or taken into custody, he might very well run into the guy again. 

A neighbor said they believe Garza saved the girl from what could have been a tragedy.

"At first, I was scared, I thought she was going to get raped. I think if he didn't come out, she would have gotten raped," the neighbor said.

Garza could have stayed inside his home and dialed 911 when he heard the teen screaming for help, leaving it up to the police to intervene. Had he done that, however, the attack on the young woman would likely have been over by the time officers arrived. Garza's decision to put his own safety at risk so he could save the teen from further harm was an act of heroism as far as I'm concerned. 

Andy Kahan, a victim advocate for Crime Stoppers, said he's grateful for Garza's quick-thinking and actions.

"I take my hat off to you -- you did the right thing," Kahan said.

Kahan said the suspect needs to get caught before he attacks someone else.

"If he's willing to do this, it makes me wonder -- is this your first time? We need to get you off the streets," he said.

That would be great, but so far most of the media outlets in Houston haven't paid any attention at all to the crime. As far as I've been able to tell, only KHOU-TV has reported on Garza's courageous actions in defense of a stranger, much less the suspect's description or a photo of the suspect captured by nearby surveillance video. Hopefully the scant media coverage will still lead to someone who knows the suspect contacting police with information, but both Garza's selfless act and the image of the man who assaulted the teen should be getting far more news coverage than it has to date.