According to police, a 28-year-old man attempted to rob a woman in the 300 block of Blount Street, in front of Growler USA.
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The 23-year-old fired her weapon to keep the man -- later identified as Jonathan Tyrone Peace -- from attacking her.
He sustained a non life-threatening gunshot wound to the chest.
She stayed on scene until police arrived.
Detectives have obtained an arrest warrant charging Peace with common law robbery.
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The incident sent one woman running out of a barber shop to see what happened.
"There were several of us sitting in the barber shop and a young man heard a pop and everybody looked and we said, 'That's a gunshot,'" said Lavern Robinson, who works at City Market and Barber Shop on Blount Street.
"So I went down there and talked to the young lady. I asked her was she all right," Robinson added. "She said yes. She said she was walking down the street, he came up and approached her. They started a conversation, and he grabbed the pocketbook and somehow - ain't no somehow - she shot him."
Sean Hoerter, of Raleigh, was walking out of Growler USA when the shooting happened.
"Honestly it was a blur. It was a lot of commotion," Hoerter said. "Once you realize what was going on, you looked up and you saw the towels soaking up the blood."
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Hoerter said he and others walked across the street to Mofu Shoppe and heard the "pop" sounds. "It was kind of surreal."
He had a message for those who might think twice about visiting downtown.
"If I spoke to the public right now, I'd tell them this is not downtown Raleigh. This is isolated," Hoerter said. "This is not who we are."