A woman who also happens to be a new gun owner shot a man in the chest after he attacked her in North Carolina late last week.

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The Incident

According to the News & Observer, Morgan Matthews, 23, was walking in downtown Raleigh at around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday when 28-year-old Jonathan Tyrone Peace walked up and attempted to rob her.

In response, “Matthews fired her weapon to stop him from attacking her and stayed on the scene until police arrived,” the Raleigh Police Department said in a release.

A man called 911 and reported that he was watching a “confrontation between two citizens.”

“Holy s***! Shots fired!” the caller exclaimed. “The victim is down – one gunshot wound to the chest.”

The 911 caller added that Matthews dropped the gun after she shot Peace. He told the dispatcher he sent her into a nearby store, and somebody from the store picked up the gun.

WRAL released texts Matthews sent to her boyfriend, Dwayne Taylor, right after the incident saying, “”I just shot someone,” and then, “Come down here please.”

“What???” Taylor texted back.

“I just got attacked,” Matthews responded.

New Gun Owner

Taylor said Matthews got a gun permit last year and is a new gun owner; she had just purchased a firearm the week before the shooting.

Peace was transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. After he gets out of the hospital, he’ll be transported to Wake County Jail. He is facing a charge of common law robbery, Fox 10 reports.

Many in the area support Matthews for defending herself.

“You need to protect yourself,” one man told WRAL. “And if that’s your avenue of doing it, then that’s what you need to do.”