This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
A would-be thief was lurking around a California Walmart when he happened upon the HED PE tour bus and met Josh “Crazy Ed” Edwards.
“Josh was like, ‘Hmm, give it to me. I dare you,'” one of the band members said in an Instagram video shared with Fox News Digital on January 23. The aftermath.
Band members laughed and narrated how Edwards pinned the suspect to the ground, emptied his pockets, found a knife and threw it aside.
The two then chatted while waiting for the police. The suspect believed Edwards was part of a sting operation.
“No, this is 10 years in the military. You were with the wrong people,” said the Army veteran who had saved someone’s life just three days earlier.
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Josh Edwards (left) and HED PE lead guitarist Nathan Javier “enjoying a boys night” while on tour. (thereadlhedpe/Instagram)
Technically, Edwards is HED PE’s “tour manager.” But last week, he joked that he was expanding his role and practicing to take over lead vocals in a rock band.
He told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that things seemed like things were going to go wrong when several “suspicious cars” pulled up in front of the band’s bus, which was parked on the side of a Walmart.
Edwards said the man got out of the car and walked in and out of the trees several times. Edwards said it looked like they were exploring something and alerted HED PE lead singer Jared Gomez.
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“It was like, ‘Something’s wrong, so let’s see what happens,'” he says. “So he goes for another lap. I went back to the RV and was trying to pack up, and then maybe about five minutes later, a guy came out of the car and jumped out from behind the corner.”
He is chased by Walmart security and almost crashes into the band’s bus. The suspect then ran into the front. Mr. Edwards was on the steps of the bus and caught him.
“He turned around and swung at me,” Edwards said. “So he swanned down to the asphalt and then got on the ground and searched…and then when I put him in that crooked armbar, he didn’t put up much resistance.”
Watch “CRAZY ED’S” takedown and interaction with would-be thief
If it was a fight, it’s over, Edwards is a security guard turned therapist, and the two men have a heart-to-heart conversation as they wait for the arresting officer.
“He kept complaining that his shoulder was hurting, so I made him sit cross-legged on my lap, which is an old military technique,” Edwards said. “I did the best I could and we had a good time chatting while we sat and waited for the police.
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“I thought, ‘Why would I do this, blah, blah?’ And he was talking about going through a divorce and having problems with his kids. And I thought, ‘This is it.’ This is different, this is different.’ I’ll help you.
“In fact, we were both grateful for each other because we needed that adrenaline rush. I could have helped him get his life back.”
HED PE created an illustration of Josh Edwards taking down a would-be thief. (thereadlhedpe/Instagram)
That was on January 23rd. Three days earlier, Edwards, a security guard, therapist and tour manager, had played Captain America in Butte, Montana.
It was about 3:30 a.m. and the band was on its way from Great Falls to Boise. There was more than 6 inches of snow on the ground, and some band members saw debris strewn across the road.
The trail led to an overturned truck with its lights on. Inside, a man was found unconscious with his head pressed against the horn.
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“So I decided to pull over right away,” Edwards said. While Edwards was trying to figure out how to get the man out of the car, two band members jumped out and called 911. Everyone is yelling at the driver.
“We’re yelling, ‘Who’s there?'” And then the guy crawled out from the other side of the truck and kind of walked around. (He) wasn’t wearing any shoes, he wasn’t wearing a jacket or a long-sleeved shirt,” he said.
Edwards went to work, pulled him from the wreckage and wrapped him in a blanket. They put him on a bus to keep him warm and wait for medical personnel to arrive on the scene.
Josh Edwards is a member of the U.S. Army, serving for 10 years and deploying six times. (contribution)
“If we weren’t there, he would have frozen to death,” Edwards said.
Edwards said the driver, who was in his late 20s or early 30s and was living in his car between jobs, fell asleep at the wheel and caused the accident.
“We actually tried to contact his parents that night to let them know what was going on, and a day or two later he called us and said he was fine. “I said,” Edwards said. “And he thanked us for saving his life.”
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Edwards’ chaotic week was emblematic of his life. He was awarded the Combat Activity Badge in 2015 when he and his team participated in sniper shooting in Afghanistan.
“Mortars were coming towards us. There was an SF (special forces) team on duty in the village,” Edwards said. “Only a few things were happening on that trip.
“The armor of the truck was hit by bullets. The truck in the back was blown up. Thankfully, everyone survived.”
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However, aggressive fighting came at a cost. One of his closest friends – Sgt. Joshua Strickland – Killed in action along with many of his friends. Sergeant Strickland had his wife and three children waiting for his return.
“Josh’s death was the biggest shock. I mean, he was pretty much paralyzed after that,” Edwards said. “We lost someone here and there at one point.”
Josh Edwards talks about the challenges he faced upon returning home from the war and how he climbed out of a dark hole by becoming tour manager for HED PE. (contribution)
Edwards said the transition from the military to civilian life was difficult for him, and a suicide attempt sent him into a dark abyss.
He said his wife left him during his deployment and he lost contact with his children for years. “So you just stuck with the fight because it’s easier to numb the pain, and every fight comes with a loss.”
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“I lost quite a few friends, which made me more and more paralyzed and hurt as I fell into a dark hole. I felt like I had no purpose and it took time to find it. It took. “
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“They gave me purpose for a little while, but then I got lost again and I started working with another organization to walk around the country on suicide awareness walks, wearing flip-flops. “I’ve walked over 1,000 miles. Another buddy,” Edwards said, joking that she hates shoes.
Watch the full interview with Edwards and Gomez
A job application at HED PE that changed his life.
“But now I’m definitely seeing light all day long, which is great,” Edwards said.
He credits a big part of that to living with HED PE, a band that has been churning out hits since the mid-’90s by fusing rap and punk.
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Gomez said he remembers meeting Edwards several years before he ultimately hired him.
“I remember having fun with him, but I didn’t go on that tour because he didn’t have the experience,” Gomez told FOX News Digital.
HED PE started in the 90’s and tours all year round. (thereadlhedpe/Instagram)
That was a few years ago. In August, HED PE posted a job opening for a “goods seller” in Texas, and Edwards happened to be there at the time, so she applied.
Gomez said he tried one or two others without success, so he called Edwards and he was the perfect fit. He has been touring with the band since August.
His responsibilities ranged from drum technician, mechanic when an RV broke down in Canada, to tour management.
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Last week, he added security and superheroes.
Next, he is looking for a backup vocalist for Gomez, but “he hasn’t signed a contract yet.”
fox news digital mitch picasso contributed to this report.
