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A gun owner was showered with praise last week after being credited for saving an Upper Darby cop from a violent attack and a mob of teenagers, Philly.com reported.

How did the cop find himself in this unusual situation in the first place?

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Every weekday afternoon around 3:00, cops patrol the area around Upper Darby High School as thousands of kids are released from school. For the most part, Philly.com reported, things go off without a hitch. The day of the incident? Not so much.

Police reportedly addressed three fights in areas around the school that day, leaving a total of eight teens charged and in custody and two officers injured. It was a fourth incident in which a cop attempted to break up a fight, but instead became the target of attacks, that drew a crowd of what was reported to be 40 or 50 teens.

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This was when an unnamed man, the gun owner, brandished his gun (without pointing it at the teens) to break up the fight.

“He had the gun in his hand, but he didn’t point it at the kids. He just told them to back off,” Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood explained. “If this guy didn’t come out and come to the aid of the officer, this officer would have had significant problems.”

Chitwood credits the man, who has a concealed carry permit, with fending off the teens until help could arrive, thus saving the officer from further injury.

The two teens who attacked the officer were reportedly charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, riot, harassment and other charges.

“There’s thousands of kids that walk to and from that school without a problem,” Chitwood explained. “But every once in awhile, you get these wannabe gangsters, and if they want to be gangsters, we’ll treat them like gangsters,”

Matt Lee is a Web producer for Metro New York. He writes about almost everything and anything. Talk to him (or yell at him) on Twitter so he doesn’t feel lonely@mattlee2669.