A woman carrying a firearm shot a man who assaulted a police officer in Dawson County, Georgia, on Tuesday.

According to Fox 5 Atlanta, 52-year-old Sgt. Randy Harkness gave a homeless man a ride to a local Chevron and planned to give him a little bit of money. However, the homeless man began physically assaulting Harkness and, according to the Dawson County Sheriff, may have even tried to reach for his gun.

WATCH:

Dawson County Sheriff believes man who attacked deputy was trying to take his gun. A witness stopped the attack by shooting the suspect at least once. pic.twitter.com/1qsnrhL1D4 — Carl Willis (@CarlWillisWSB) December 5, 2017

Luckily, a gun-toting woman sitting in her car at the Chevron witnessed the attack and got out of her car to shoot at the suspect. The sheriff’s office said she hit the homeless man at least once.

“She shot off a round. The guy got off the police officer and she shot another round and he was running that way I think, there was three shots,” said Aseem Kahn, the owner of the gas station.

The gunfire caused the homeless man to flee across the street to a McDonald’s, where he punched an elderly woman in the face and tried to steal her car. Several customers at the restaurant subdued the man and held him down until police arrived.

“They are the heroes because they kept him from injuring anybody else,” said Sharon Cheek, the shift manager at the McDonald’s.

“It could have been worse, mate, thank you for that lady who was carrying,” Kahn similarly said.

The homeless man is still at the hospital and will be facing charges for his brutal attack.

Sheriff Jeff Johnson said the woman is a “hero” and asserted that she saved Sgt. Harkness’ life.

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