A group of six people attending the FurCon Convention in California did not expect the night to end with them being deemed heroes. The group was leaving the convention in San Jose Friday when they heard a woman screaming and spotted a man assaulting his girlfriend, NBC reported. According to a police report by the San Jose Police Department, the man was assaulting the woman in a car when the witnesses approached. After seeing the assault, the furries intervened by opening the car doors, pulling the man off the woman, and restraining him before police arrived, officials said.
Kin Z. Shiratsuki told NBC she saw the man “walloping a lady,” and was able to grab the man out of the vehicle with “little violence” due to her experience in taekwondo and karate. Another witness, Robbie Ryans told CNN that he was working as a DJ for the convention and saw the blue car pull over during his smoke break outside.
"We heard a woman's screams coming from inside and saw the passenger throwing full fists at whoever was driving." Ryans told CNN. "We got up and ran towards the car, my friend pulled open the door and we both held onto the attacker. The girl driver was yelling for him to get out, as he started trying to fight us off."
Shortly before police arrived, others joined to help stop the attack and restrain the man, Ryans told CNN, and he then moved away to film the incident. "It all happened so fast, I still can't believe it," Ryans said. "I'm so glad everything worked out in the end. It was a horrible sight to see. Afterward we were very shaken up but relieved." Police then arrived to arrest 22-year-old Demetri Hardnett, according to the police report, who was charged with domestic violence at the Santa Clara County Jail.
“Even though we’re wearing animal costumes, we’ve got some humanity as well,” Khord Kitty a member of the group told NBC. “It’s just a natural thing to want to help someone in need.”
According to VOX, a furry is someone interested in anthropomorphized animals, enthusiastic about anthropomorphic characters or who identifies with a furry character or “fursona.” But furries aren’t just animal lovers, what makes them different is that the animals they like have human traits, for example, Sonic the Hedgehog.