Background: The Thunder Over Louisville show on April 18, 2026 (WLKY/YouTube). Inset top: Vasilis Sakellaridis (Louisville Metro Department of Corrections). Inset bottom: Da’Jon Hayes-Burr (GoFundMe).
A teenage boy is being celebrated as a hero after he was stabbed while defending a woman and her daughter from an alleged harasser in Kentucky.
According to Louisville Metro Department of Corrections records, Vasilis Sakellaridis, 45, faces multiple charges, including first-degree assault, first-degree fleeing or evading police, second-degree disorderly conduct, and public intoxication. He is accused of stabbing 15-year-old Da’Jon Hayes-Burr.
Kristyn Stasel recounted to local CBS affiliate WLKY that she was leaving the Thunder Over Louisville fireworks show with her 12-year-old daughter when a man approached them as they headed to their car in Louisville, Kentucky.
Stasel claimed the man, identified as Sakellaridis, made an inappropriate comment. Despite her informing him that her daughter was only 12, he allegedly responded, “Never too young to have some fun.”
“I lost it and started screaming as loudly as I could,” Stasel recounted. “I yelled ‘pedophile, pedophile,’ to grab anyone’s attention. Instead of fleeing, he charged at me.”
Nearby, Da’Jon, along with other teens, heard Stasel’s pleas for help. According to a GoFundMe page created for him, Da’Jon “stepped in to protect a 12-year-old girl and her mother from a dangerous situation involving a pedophile.”
Sakellaridis reportedly “tried to swing” at the teens, and they threw him to the ground. Stasel said she kept walking with her daughter but “the next thing we know, as we’re walking up, we see the man come again around.”
He had apparently stabbed Da’Jon in the stomach and kept moving toward the mother and daughter. According to the woman, about 12 military and police officers tackled the suspect, “and it took them a while to keep him down.”
“That group of kids saved us, and I’m so glad that he’s just minorly hurt,” Stasel added of Da’Jon. “And I know he said he didn’t feel like a hero, but he will always be a hero in my book because, again, I don’t know what would have happened.”
Da’Jon is expected to be OK, “but his road to recovery will be long and challenging,” the GoFundMe states. “The emotional and physical toll of what happened is immense, and we want to do everything we can to support him as he heals.”
Sakellaridis pleaded not guilty on Monday during his arraignment, according to Louisville Fox affiliate WDRB. He is being held on a $25,000 cash bond.
