An 87-year-old war veteran and stroke survivor who was robbed and burglarized five times in the last six months, received an unexpected random act of kindness from the Fort Worth Texas Police Department.
John McAnally is a Korean War vet who lives alone in Forth Worth and recently suffered a stroke, causing him to lose partial control of his speech and nearly all of his hearing, according to Fox4. Thieves took full advantage of the elderly man’s ailments on five separate occasions these past six months, breaking into his home, beating him and robbing him blind.
“They come in my house through here [his door] and they robbed me,” McAnally told Fox4 on Wednesday. “They pushed me over and took money out of my pocket…I had to replace everything.”
Neighbors have been a blessing to the war vet, according to the report, and chipped in to repair the damages the robbers made to his home, and even tightened up security in an effort to keep future thieves out. (RELATED: Chicago Family Praises Police For Saving Baby After He Was Brutally Shot)
“They’re low life and scum,” McAnally’s neighbor Donald Green told Fox4. “That’s about all they are, you know? They can’t do anything legal. Just picking on a man that age who can’t do anything.”
But Forth Worth police officers stepped in unexpectedly and gave McAnally a much needed $100 gift card to help him get back on his feet. The man was overjoyed by the gift, and said that being robbed so often while living on a fixed income has set him back a great deal.
The gift was handed personally to McAnally by officers Kuzenka and Chromaster on Wednesday according to the Fort Worth police Facebook page, which read, “Since finding out about his dilemma, several agencies have been contacted and services have been set up to assist him. We wanted to help him too.”
The Fort Worth Police are known to be a generous force in Texas, and often give gifts to citizens who’ve fallen on difficult times. Known as the Fort Worth Police Awards Foundation, this year alone, the department raised $10,000 to distribute to people in need. McAnally is just one of many Texans who received an unexpected gift from police, according to the force’s Facebook page.