Tim Patterson was cooking at The Big Yellow Mobile Kitchen as he did every day when he heard a scream coming from the parking lot of a nearby Goodwill store. He rushed toward the cries for help and didn’t hesitate to draw his Kimber 1911 .45 when he saw that a man had grabbed hold of a woman and had a knife to her throat. “Drop it or I’ll shoot you!” Patterson warned. The assailant immediately released the woman, dropped the knife, raised his arms and fled. The victim, a Goodwill employee who was carrying a bank deposit in her purse at the time of the attempted robbery, was not injured. (Coeur d’Alene Press, Coeur d’Alene, ID, 11/30/11)

The Armed Citizen Extra
(The following account did not appear in the print version of American Rifleman.)

A pregnant California homeowner saw two men enter her home one morning, but couldn't get to a phone, so instead she grabbed a handgun to defend herself. When she came face-to-face with the intruders, she ordered them to flee, saying she didn't want to have to shoot them. The men advanced toward her and she fired a shot, missing the suspects but causing them to flee. Police were in pursuit of the men when this went to press. (The Times Standard, Eureka, CA, 01/26/12)

From The Armed Citizen Archive
March 1975: While Dan Cassin was stacking shelves in his Atlanta, Ga., store, two robbers rushed in, fired at least one shot, and then started thrashing the store cleanup man. Cassin immediately pulled out his cal. .38 pistol and shot one intruder to death. "They came in like storm troopers, shooting and beating people," Cassin said. "I just couldn't stand and watch." (The South Middlesex News, Framingham, Mass.)