"Corporal Duggan is in good spirits, tonight. I spoke to him earlier...he said he got a few stitches a couple x-rays but he is fine..he's at home..and glad that he had his fellow Marines by his side this afternoon," his friend Larry Frelin said. "The best I could do was try to hold his legs, he was strong, amazingly strong."

Larry Frelin was right with Corporal Phillip Duggan and other U.S. Marines as they tried to stop Tracey Attaway from running.

"One of the corporals dressed in blues he jumped on him," said Frelin.

The Marines were all outside raising donations for Toys For Tots when they heard the commotion.

Tracey Attaway is now charged with Armed Robbery, Aggravated Assault, and Possession of a Knife During the Commission of a Crime, after investigators say he pulled a knife on an Best Buy employee while attempting to shoplift two cameras and laptop.

"The two of them started taking him down he ended up pulling a knife swinging around and hitting the corporal in the back," explained Frelin.

Deputies arrested Attaway shortly after.

From the squad car, Attaway called out to our cameras: "I need something to drink bad man, I'm about to dehydrate."

As a former Marine himself, Frelin says a fast reaction when danger is present is built into their training. However, he wasn't expecting a stabbing while trying to raise funds for kids who don't have toys: "I didn't expect this type of day heading towards the holidays. It's just strange, I mean, maybe it would happen in a bigger city…but here in Augusta?"