A concealed-carry permit holder who was armed for “his own protection” was shot dead after exchanging gunfire with two robbers in Chicago, according to reports.

Father of two Derrick Gholston, 43, was standing outside Crispy Cuts barbershop in the city’s South Side on Saturday night when two crooks pulled out weapons and demanded his property, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The suspects then stormed the shop to rob it — and that’s when Gholston pulled out his legally owned handgun, sparking a shootout with the men, the report said.

Gholston and one of the suspects, 18-year-old Carlos Smith, were both hit in the torso, while a 51-year-old man inside the barbershop was hit twice in the leg, Chicago police told the paper.

All three were rushed to a nearby hospital, where Gholston and Smith were pronounced dead within an hour of the shootout, according to the paper. Both deaths were ruled homicides.

The unidentified 51-year-old man is in stable condition, according to the report.

The second suspect fled and is still being hunted, cops say.

Smith had been found with a ski mask but without a weapon, according to the Chicago Tribune, although a handgun was found behind the barbershop.

A longtime friend of Gholston told the Sun-Times that Gholston was a “really good-hearted guy.”

“If he saw something bad going down and he felt like he could help prevent it or end it, he would definitely put himself into it,” Franklin Jones told the paper.

He said his friend often carried a handgun because “he dealt with a lot of cash” from his business, a food truck selling jerk chicken.

“His sole purpose for carrying the pistol was for his own protection,” Jones said.