LEGALLY ARMED BLACK WOMAN SAYS HER GUN GOT HER SAFELY HOME

CHICAGO (CBS) — A woman fought back and fired her own gun when a would-be carjacker pointed a gun at her outside a bank in Roseland on Monday afternoon.

CBS 2’s Jermont Terry talked with the woman exclusively afterward. She did not appear on camera, but did speak for an audio recording.

The woman fired at the carjacker when he approached her at gunpoint just as she was getting into her car in the parking lot of the Chase Bank at 10260 S. Michigan Ave.

Hours later, a bullet casing from the shots the woman fired remained lying on the ground. The woman said she had just left the bank and had some cash in her hand – but before she could get to her car, parked a few feet from the front door of the bank – she said someone else opened her front door and a gun was aimed at her head.

“Thank God I had my gun, or I’d probably be dead right now,” the woman said.

The woman expressed raw emotions as she reflected on how her quick run to the bank left her heart racing.

“I had just come out of the bank and was sitting in my car about to lock my door to pull off in leave, and he opened my door and put a gun in my face,” the woman said.

The thief was not expecting the woman, wh0o has a concealed carry license, to pull her gun out.

“And when he saw me get mine, he looked surprised – and I started shooting, and he started running,” she said. “He ran.”

The woman does not recall how many times she fired.

“Hell no – just started busting,” she said.

The woman also does not know if she struck the would-be carjacker, but she knows the shots were at very close range. She reversed her Nissan Versa, and pulled up right outside the Chase Bank – then ran inside for help.

The woman hopes the next person thinking of carjacking anyone realizes they may not be the only ones with a weapon.

“I pray every night that I don’t have to shoot nobody, but if I have to, then I’m prepared and ready,” the woman said. “So God, I was ready.”

It was still unclear late Monday if any of the woman’s shots hit the would-be carjacker or carjackers, but we do know Chicago Police were checking with area hospitals to see if someone walks in with gunshot wound.

Police are also reviewing surveillance video.

Meanwhile, we do know the woman thankfully was home late Monday – and she is crediting her concealed carry licensed for allowing her to get home safely.