A quick-thinking group of teens may have saved the life of a restaurant manager stabbed repeatedly in the face in Solana Beach on Monday.
The four Santa Fe Christian High School seniors were inside the Rubio's off Highway 101. The manager of the restaurant was trying to keep a man from coming in when he was attacked with a knife.
The students told NBC 7 in an exclusive interview that once the fight broke out, their instincts kicked in. One student who would like to become a nurse, said she knew exactly what to do to help the stabbing victim.
"I'm supporting his head, and I didn't even think twice about it -- I just put my hand straight on the wound that was gushing blood everywhere -- I put my hand on the wound, and I told him that he had to keep pressure on the wound too," said the good Samaritan identified as Gabby.
"And he had to help me out because there was a lot of blood, and that was the only way that we could stop the bleeding, and then I told the boys that we needed rags," said Gabby.
The victim's stepdaughter told NBC 7 that he was stabbed three times, leaving him with a fractured skull and part of the knife left embedded inside his head.
"The attacker swings 1-2-3, catches him in the back one in the head, misses one, one deep in the temple," said Matthew Benesik, another one of the students who helped render aid.
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"The employees, I kind of think they were shocked too but we all acted on it really quickly," said Mikayla Sommer, who was also part of the group of teens.
The stabbing victim is recovering at the Scripps Hospital in Hillcrest. The unidentified attacker was shot by deputies who tried to arrest him. He later died in a hospital.
The North County restaurant was closed Tuesday, following the deputy-involved shooting.
