SAN ANTONIO – Authorities spent more than four hours Saturday talking a suicidal man down from a Transguide sign and as people stopped to snap photos of the man and shout obscenities at him, one woman stopped to pray.
The woman, Grace Hernandez, told KSAT that with Mother's Day approaching, she felt compelled to pull over and pray.
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"What mother wants to be told that their son has committed suicide?," Hernandez told KSAT after the man had come down. "I witnessed another (suicide) on Donella on Easter and I was coming from church and I called my pastor. I said 'I can't believe it,' and he said, 'That's why. That's our mission -- is to pray.'"
While people have stopped to gawk & take pictures of a man threatening to jump from a Transguide sign at I35 this woman stopped to pray. The man looks to be thinking about coming down. He’s been up there for 2 hrs. pic.twitter.com/Gy5Zmh4oFo
— Patty Santos (@PattySantv) May 5, 2018
While she prayed for the man on the sign, she also prayed for the men and women working to get him down, unsure if he was dangerous.
"My prayer is not just for him," Hernandez said. "My prayer is for everyone that's around this because you don't know what could happen. I'm just grateful God heard my prayers."
She said she was upset to hear onlookers encouraging him to jump.
"That was sad, because we don't know what set him to do this," she said.
When told about the praise she was receiving on social media for her act of faith, she said "everyone should pray," pointing to the several Bibles she carries in her car.
Update: SAPD continue to talk with the man on the sign, he’s halfway down. Interstate & roads nearby remain closed. The prayer warrior remains here keeping vigil over the stranger. pic.twitter.com/1TNlK5MM4r
— Patty Santos (@PattySantv) May 5, 2018