Hero veteran takes out man threatening shoppers, staff with knife in South Carolina Walmart

Video footage shows the unidentified man wearing a red hoodie shouting and erratically waving a knife around on the floor of the Columbia, South Carolina, Walmart on January 4 at around 2pm. At one point, the footage shows a customer moving towards the man to gently subdue him, but having to suddenly jump back to avoid being slashed in the face.

Military veteran Demario Davis was amongst the crowd of people in the store, and upon seeing the assailant attempt to slash the customer, he told Fox News, "That's when my military training kicked in."

"I casually walked over to the object not only to take him down but also protect myself in case I failed, but with my great military training I was able to neutralize the threat until law enforcement arrived," Davis said.

Davis, who was at the store with his son, noticed the man walk towards the service desk and start waving the knife at a couple of female employees, who ran away from the assailant.

As Davis walks towards the man, he hears him yelling out "when the cops get here I'm going to start cutting you all up."

"My first instinct was to neutralize the situation so I just casually walked over and waited until I had an opportunity to get him and I got em I guess," he recalled.

He added, "I'm a community person, so if I see something in the community that's not right, with all the violence and things and attacks going on, gun violence you know, you want your people in the community to step up as well. The cops can't do it all by themselves."

The assailant was taken to a local hospital where he was evaluated by the Richland County Sheriff's Department's Crisis Intervention Team, the Daily Mail reports. It is unclear if charges have been filed at this time.

"I have received so many heartfelt comments and compliments from civilians and veterans all over for my brave act and quick response," Davis told Fox News.