Two security guards credited for taking down a machete-wielding suspect in the city’s downtown core last year are being honoured today in Toronto.

Last December, Paragon Security employees Nathaniel McNeil and Philip Bonaparte were hailed as heroes after police say the pair apprehended a suspect who attacked and seriously injured a 30-year-old man with a machete at the corner of Bay and Dundas streets.

In a video of the incident, which occurred on the afternoon of Dec. 23, the guards were seen tackling and handcuffing the suspect after the attack.

A foot-long machete and an eight-inch hunting knife were recovered from the scene.

Both Bonaparte and McNeil were named “2015 Security Guards of the Year” by the American Society of Industrial Security Thursday.

Speaking to CTV Toronto, McNeil described the experience as “surreal.”

“After the fact, I put myself out of my body and looked at what was really going on and it is something out of a movie or something but it is real life,” he added.

Bonaparte said he is simply happy to know that “everyone went home safe.”

Paragon Security Vice President Ted Salter previously said that typically guards are encouraged to defer to police when armed suspects need to be apprehended but this was an exceptional case.

The suspect in the attack, identified by police as 35-year-old resident of New York, was later charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon.