This is a very weird story, but it does appear to be true.
NBC reports that a young woman, Jamie-Lynne Knighton, from San Diego was standing in a supermarket queue on November 11, trying to pay for her groceries.
Her card wasn’t working, and her baby was crying.
A young man in the line behind her offered to pay the bill – more than $200 – saying only that he wanted her to ‘pay it forward’ (meaning, do an act of kindness for some other stranger, in the years ahead.)
The couple had a short conversation outside the supermarket, in which Jamie-Lynn thanked the stranger, who mentioned that he worked at a local branch of LA Fitness.
Later that same week, Jamie-Lynne tried to contact his employer to praise him – only to find out that he had died on the same day he made his act of kindness.
The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office has confirmed to NBC that 28-year-old Matthew Jackson, of Oceanside, was killed in a car accident on November 11, the same day he met Jamie-Lynne.
The report says Matthew “was with two others when the vehicle veered off the road in the 2100 block of Vista Way in Oceanside. The car struck a tree, killing Jackson. The two other people in the vehicle survived.”
