Off-Duty Probation Officer Awarded for Disarming Armed Gang Member in Church

A off-duty San Diego County Probation officer received an award for bravery after he disarmed a gang member in church over the summer. 

Officer Jeffrey Webdell, 37, was working as a volunteer coordinating security services at his church on Aug. 30 when a family came up to him and let him know a man in the front row was being disruptive. 

Throughout the service, Webdell said he kept an eye on the man and, once the service was over, noticed he remained in his seat as others left. 

Webdell and another security volunteer came up to him to talk. Webdell said he noticed certain tattoos on the man and suspected he was a gang member.

However, Webdell said he did not recognize him from his work as a probation officer. He is assigned to the Youthful Offender Unit in the Probation Special Operations Division and is a nine year veteran of the department. 

“I talked to him and he seemed pretty erratic and unstable,” Webdell said in a statement.

As the security volunteer talked to him, the man appeared to become irritated. He stepped away for a minute and then returned, saying "something intimidating" and implying he had a loaded gun on him. 

Those words pushed Webdell to action, he said. 

He grabbed the man, found the loaded .45 caliber gun in the waistband, disarmed him and held him as he waited for police to arrive. 

“That could have been pretty bad,” Webdell said in a statement.

That man now faces several charges, including carrying a concealed, loaded weapon without a permit and bringing a firearm onto a school campus, which is where the church meets. 

Nonprofit agency San Diego County Crime Commission awarded Webdell with the Blue Knight Award for bravery. 

“Senior Probation Officer Webdell is commended for his alertness, bravery and quick action in disarming a violent gang member,” said Probation Deputy Chief Lorraine Fernandez in a statement.