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 ...