--- description: The officer has thanked the teen in a viral Facebook post, days after another officer was shot to death at a gas station from the back. title: Teen Who Offers to Protect Police Officer at Gas Station Goes Viral image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Teen Who Offers to Protect Police Officer at Gas Station Goes Viral  by [Tanya Basu](/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 7, 2015 7:01 PM CUT  by [Tanya Basu](/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 7, 2015 7:01 PM CUT Police officer Tommi Jones Kelley was pumping gas in Houston recently when she realized someone was standing behind her and turned to see “this teenager I’ve never met before,” she wrote in a Facebook post that has since gone viral. The teen, identified by Kelley as Mckinley Zoellner, offered to stand behind the officer “to make sure You stay safe!” Kelley wrote in the Sept. 3 post. After Kelley finished pumping her gas, Kelley noticed Zoellner was still there, standing in the rain. Kelley went over to Zoellner’s mother to thank both of them, and then took a selfie with the teen and posted it to Facebook. The story has resonated with officers and citizens alike after the [“execution-style” murder](http://time.com/4016314/texas-cop-shot/ "undefined") of Houston sheriff’s deputy Darren Goforth last month at a gas station. Goforth was shot from behind. Kelley referenced Goforth’s death in her post, saying it was encouraging to know there were still “some pretty awesome individuals out there.” “Yes, I’m the one with the gun on my hip while he stood there empty handed, but he for sure had my ‘6’ while my back was turned,” Kelley wrote. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4024469/teen-officer-back/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4024469/teen-officer-back/"},"headline":"Teen Who Offers to Protect Police Officer at Gas Station Goes Viral","datePublished":"2015-09-07T19:01:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:24:22.936Z","description":"After the murder of a fellow officer at a Houston gas station","url":"https://time.com/4024469/teen-officer-back/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","facebook","Houston","Guns","local"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4024469/teen-officer-back/","name":"Teen Who Offers to Protect Police Officer at Gas Station Goes Viral"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"5 Elements of A Viral Video","description":"5 Elements of A Viral Video","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vgQtqA8c/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-22T13:42:30.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vgQtqA8c.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4024469/teen-officer-back/","duration":"PT1M31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4024469/teen-officer-back/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```