23-year-old woman gets her permit, gun. It pays off big time just a week later.

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A Raleigh, North Carolina woman was armed during a robbery attempt that occurred on a downtown street last week. She shot the suspect. The woman just bought her firearm a week before. (Image source: WRAL-TV video screenshot) 

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Sarah TaylorSTAFF WRITER

Morgen Matthews, 23, was simply walking down a Raleigh, North Carolina, street in broad daylight Thursday when an attacker reportedly attempted to rob Matthews.

Lucky for Matthews, she’d gotten her gun permit a year ago and had just bought her very own firearm the week before.

WRAL-TV reported that police charged the suspect, 28-year-old Jonathan Tyrone Peace, with common law robbery.

How did this all unfold?

According to the News & Observer, a police report recounting the incident reported that “Matthews fired her weapon to stop [Peace] from attacking her and stayed on the scene until police arrived.”

WRAL reported that the 911 caller who purportedly witnessed the incident said that Peace “violently accosted” Matthews on a busy downtown Raleigh street prior to her shooting Peace.

Matthews, who was apparently shaken by the entire experience, reportedly dropped the weapon after shooting Peace, and a bystander picked up the weapon.

According to the News & Observer, the 911 caller who phoned in the incident said, “Holy s**t! Shots fired! The victim is down — one gunshot wound to the chest.”

The caller noted that they had witnessed  “a confrontation between two citizens.”

When police arrived, Peace — whom Matthews shot in the chest — was taken to a hospital for treatment of his injuries, which were not life-threatening, according to WRAL.