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SUNRISE (CBSMiami) — A Walmart employee turned the tables on a would-be robber with deadly results.

It happened when the employee left the store, at 3306 N. University Drive, around 3:30 a.m. He was walking to his car when an armed man approached him and tried to rob him.

The two exchanged words, according to police, and then the Walmart employee pulled his own gun and fatally shot his would-be attacker.

“I’m sorry to hear what happened to the victim but my brother works hard to take care of him and his child,” said the man’s sister, who didn’t want to give her name.

Police said the employee, who was not hurt, has a concealed weapons permit and the shooting appears to have been in self-defense.

“I think that was excellent,” said shopper Rico Blanco. “You see this cap I got on. I’m a Vietnam Veteran. You don’t take nothing that doesn’t belong to you and you don’t bother anyone that’s not bothering you. You mind your own business.”

Shoppers who arrived at the store in the morning were suprised to hear about the deadly shooting and expressed relief that the employee was not hurt.

“It’s good that person can defend himself. That’s good. Sorry about what happened to the other person but that’s life,” said Dean Williams.

“His intention was to come up and maybe do this person bodily harm but the other person beat him to it. So where ever he is, where it is that it’s hot, I hope that he enjoys his stay there because it will be always,” said Blanco.

Police have not said if the employee will face charges.