The parents of a Macy’s loss prevention officer who was stabbed earlier this week told KIRO 7 on Wednesday he deliberately put himself in harm’s way to protect a coworker.

Doctors told Daniel and Leann Kashporenko it’s a miracle their son is still alive. He was rushed to Tacoma General Hospital after the attack, which started with a shoplifting incident Monday at South Hill Mall in Puyallup.

“He’s stable. The breathing tubes are out. He still has a lot of chest tubes and he’s in a lot of pain,” Leann Kashporenko said.

The man’s parents asked that his name not be made public in order to preserve his privacy.

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The Kashporenkos' son and his partner were trying to stop a pair of shoplifters when 18-year-old Jason Tartaglia pulled a knife, police said.

“(My son) told his partner, ‘Knife, he has a knife,’ and he got in between his partner and the man with the knife, and then his partner heard him say, ‘I’ve been stabbed, I’ve been stabbed,’” Leann Kashporenko said.

The Kashporenkos' son continued working to apprehend Tartaglia and the other suspect, along with two plainclothes officers from the Puyallup Tribal Police. His parents said he didn’t realize at the time how badly he’d been injured.

“(The knife) punctured through into his heart, lower-left ventricle,” Daniel Kashporenko said. “Just missed a major artery.”

The Kashporenkos' son underwent open-heart surgery to repair the damage.

His parents said their son will survive after a lengthy recovery period, but they can’t believe Tartaglia allegedly stabbed – and nearly killed – their son over a simple case of shoplifting.

“A pair of jeans is what they were after, I understand,” Daniel Kashporenko said. “It’s unfathomable. I just don’t understand it.”

The Kashporenkos said they credit the two Puyallup Tribal Police officers with saving their son’s life. They said one officer took off his shirt to apply pressure to their son’s wound, which prevented him from bleeding to death at the scene.