A Missouri convenience store clerk was hailed as a “she-ro” by fellow employees after police said she fatally shot a would-be robber during a smoke break.

The wild confrontation unfolded after the 35-year-old worker, who was not identified, stepped outside for a smoke during her shift at a 7-Eleven in St. Louis just before 3:50 a.m. Monday, cops said. Suddenly, an armed man approached her and tried to rob her — but the woman, who was also armed, pulled out a pistol and shot the man in the chest, arm and thigh.

The suspect, 30, later died at St. Louis University Hospital, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The female clerk, who was shot twice in the leg during the gunfight, was listed in stable condition, KTVI reports. Employees at the convenience store — which reopened about two hours after the shooting — said she worked at the store for years and now has a new nickname at work.

“I was glad she protected herself,” Davon Dodson told the Post-Dispatch on his first day of work at the store. “We’re calling her she-ro.”

Dodson said he would chat up the woman when he stopped in to grab pizza after getting off work at prior jobs late at night, adding that the area was generally safe but without many other businesses in the area.

“So we get a lot of people stopping in,” said Dodson, who told the newspaper he thought the city’s Carondelet section is generally safe.

“We have some trouble, but it’s generally quiet,” he said. “If you’re looking for trouble, though, you may find it.”

A man who lived near the store said he didn’t know the female clerk very well, but said she was a mother who worked hard and was respectful of customers. The gunman “deserved to get what he got” for pointing a weapon at her, he said.

“It’s unfair,” Shane Mack told the Post-Dispatch. “She ain’t done anything wrong. She was just taking a break and he attacked.”

Employees told the newspaper that another employee who was working with the woman during the time of the robbery quit later that day.

“We need a security guard — you can quote me on that,” said employee Brian Richardson, adding that the risk of working at night isn’t worth the money.

Richardson, who has worked day shifts at the store since November, said he didn’t know that his colleague was armed.

“But I think anybody would defend themselves if they were in her position,” he said.