Life-saving Performance.

Brian Walters, 26, is a part-time San Francisco music promoter. He met Deandre Johnson, 32, at a recent performance and invited Johnson to visit his apartment for an apparent business meeting. At around 10:30 p.m. on August 14th, Walters buzzed Johnson into the split-level loft, where Walters' girlfriend, her two young children, and 25-year-old Detrick Washington (a friend) were also present.

After about 10 minutes, Johnson said that he had to leave to pick up his sister. Moments later, however, he and an accomplice returned and forced their way back into the apartment. Johnson, who had a lengthy criminal record, was armed with a handgun while Lovell Brown, 28, brandished a 15-inch machete.

Brown tied the hands of Walters' girlfriend with duct tape and draped a bed-sheet over her and the children. The two thugs demanded to know where cash from the performance was stashed, eventually forcing Walters to open a safe containing about $3,000.

At one point during the robbery, when Johnson went upstairs to check on the woman and children, he left his gun on a couch. Washington was able to grab it and get the drop on Brown, who was ransacking the downstairs. A scuffle ensued, during which Washington shot and killed the machete-wielding Brown.

Washington then handed the gun to Walters, who called 911 and instructed Johnson, who had come downstairs, not to move. Washington went upstairs to check on the woman and children when he suddenly heard Walters yell something, then shots rang out. Johnson, who had attempted to attack Walters, was seriously wounded. He later died at a local hospital. Washington was hailed by San Francisco police for seizing the robber's gun. "He took a chance. I believe we could call him a hero," Inspector Armand Gordon told reporters. "He basically saved five people's lives, including his own."

But in a bizarre twist, the next day Washington, who was on parole for a drug violation, was arrested by state parole agents. The terms of his parole barred him from owning or possessing weapons, and he had briefly "possessed" Johnson's gun when he grabbed it and used it to defend himself during the robbery. Police urged parole officials not to hold him, but he was jailed and parole authorities announced that he could be held for as many as six business days while they scrutinized the case.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Washington's incarceration on August 17th. That same day, he was quietly released to his parole officer, and on August 22nd was formally released without charges being filed.