DETROIT (WWJ) - A Detroit businessman is being called a "walking angel" after he helped an elderly woman he saw crying in the Wayne County Treasurer's Office keep her home.

Michael Evans was standing in line to pay taxes on a property he'd recently purchased, when he overheard the teller inform a woman in a wheelchair that her house had been foreclosed upon, and was headed for auction.

Evans stepped in and paid the woman's $5,000 tax bill.

Why do that for a stranger?

"I don't know," Evans told WWJ Newsradio 950's Vickie Thomas. "Something just told me we couldn't let that happen, so I just had to do it."

"My father just passed away about two months ago, and I couldn't picture this lady losing her house," he said. "The cashier was in tears, too, it was just like unbelievable, so I had to do something. And we could do it."

Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabree called the situation "very unusual."

"We're just happy that Mrs. Jackson came in, and had the faith to come in and see about the situation so we could try to help," Sabree said. "And Mr. Evans was there as an angel to pay the taxes."

"It really just shows that there are people out there who really care," he added. "The average person doesn't think, probably, that there's still a lot of love in the hearts of our people...but this just proves that there is a lot of love out there."