When a brawl broke out at the Del Amo Fashion Center among a large group of teenagers, Maurice Hardy decided to step in and help.
Like many people on national cinema day, Antonio Munoz and his older brother were in the fashion center to see a movie.
When a fight broke out, Munoz said some kids came towards his brother.
“They came up to my brother, they looked at him and they hit him,” Munoz said.
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When Antonio tried to help, he says the mob of teens turned on him.
That’s when Hardy, a complete stranger to Munoz, jumped into action.
“I ran out and I looked to the left and I seen them jumping them and I pushed all the kids off of him,” Hardy said.
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The video of the chaos at Del Amo made its way to Gracie, co-owner of Gracie University of Jiu Jitsu in Torrance.
“To see that Maurice had that level of courage and that level of service in his heart and in his DNA, all I thought to myself was, if we can give him Jujitsu, it can be an even more, even greater force for good,” said Rener Gracie, co-owner of Gracie University of Jiu Jitsu.
He gifted a yearlong membership to learn Jiu Jitsu for both Antonio and the stranger who didn’t back down.
“I said thank you for helping me, for saving me, cause it could have been way worse,” Munoz said.
“I’m just glad I was there and able to help him,” Hardy said.
Antonio is still bruised from the attack, but grateful for the chance to someday pay it forward.
“I wanna do what Maurice is doing, I want to protect people who are getting hurt,” Munoz said.
