"He was hitting it so hard," James Talbot said.
It was a young man, pounding on his front door with both hands, screaming for help. It was Friday afternoon, Talbot said he was resting after being sick, and he'd never heard anything like it before.
"I jumped up, and I ran, opened the door," he said. "The kid was all full of blood, screaming, saying somebody is trying to kill me, it's my dad."
Immediately, Talbot recognized this was a life or death situation -- there wasn't time to think. He told the young man to get into his backyard as he called 911. He then wrapped a towel around the young man's head to stop the bleeding and tried to console him until the paramedics showed up, according to Talbot. At that point, neither were sure the young man was going to live.
"He said, 'please talk to me, keep me alive, please talk to me,'" Talbot said. "And I was like, 'okay buddy, we've got people coming.'"
This neighborhood that's tucked away in Vail is a quiet place where people keep to themselves, according to Talbot. He didn't know the man or the family but said it didn't matter who it was, he was ready to protect the young man.
"If somebody comes running up to your door like that, and they're covered in blood, you're supposed to help them," he said. "You just do it. It doesn't matter if somebody is chasing them with a gun or not, I just did it because it was the right thing to do. Doesn't matter if the guy had a gun, I still would have opened it and called the police."
While Talbot had never met this young man, he said that he hopes he'll get the chance to meet him again.
"If you ever get a chance to come meet me again, do it," Talbot said. "I'd be one -- I'd be happy to see that you lived, survived this incident."
