A stranger is being hailed a hero after taking down an assailant who attacked a woman with a shotgun outside a gas station in Imperial Beach.
The attack happened in a parking lot outside a 7-Eleven gas station on Imperial Beach Boulevard. Witnesses said the suspect pulled out a 12-gauge shotgun from his car and struck a woman in the face.
That’s when a bystander intervened, tackling the man to the ground and holding him there until sheriff’s deputies arrived.
Arriving deputies took the man into custody; they say he may have been intoxicated, but they don’t know what motivated the attack. The shotgun wasn’t loaded, deputies said.
Later, the woman was seen hugging the stranger who saved her.
“It’s a miracle that guy was there,” said Ariel Benedict, a customer at the 7-Eleven. “Otherwise who knows what could have happened.”
The suspect’s name has not been released.
