Smyrna, GA-- No one starts their day thinking they're going to stop a crime.
But, that's exactly what happened in a Georgia town last week. And the crimefighters hailed heroes...are homeless men.
Zach Somerset, 21, and Shawn Thompson, 19, were on their way to get something to eat last Friday night when police say they saved a 15-year-old friend from being raped.
Somerset and Thomopson said they were walking along Church Street in Smyrna around 9 pm when it happened. They said a 15-year-old girl they knew and a man they had recently met at a homeless ministry was walking behind them.
When they reached a parking lot entrance to a Chick-fil-a they noticed the girl and the man was missing.
And then the unexpected happened, Zach and Shawn said they heard a horrific scream. Thompson told WXIA "It's one of the most traumatizing screams I've ever heard in my life; it made my blood chill."
Realizing their female friend was in trouble, they ran back the way they'd come, yelling in the dark for the girl to let them know where she was.
"I kept hollering, you know, 'Keep screaming so I can locate you, keep screaming, keep screaming'," said Zach Somerset.
They followed the screams to some bushes in front of a nearby town home complex where they found the other man trying to rape their 15-year-old friend.
After breaking up the attack, Shawn moved the girl to safety and Zach chased 27-year-old Maurice Jackson a couple of blocks, tackling and holding him until Smyrna Police could arrive.
"It was a struggle, you know," said Somerset, "he wasn't going to stay still."
Already on probation for burglary, Maurice Jackson is back in the Cobb County Jail charged with attempted rape, child molestation and sexual battery of a minor.
The girl is fine and now Zach and Shawn are hoping someone will help them find a job so they can put a roof over their heads.
"I feel like I did what God wanted me to do," said Shawn, "but a hero would be a good word for it, I guess."