THE GOOD SAMARITAN

A few moments earlier, it was a regular morning on a California job site. Nick, a construction superintendent, was taking a break with the crew…

Nick immediately jumped into action … thinking, "I knew at that point one of us wasn't going home today."

Nick grew up in Southern California in a family with roots in Chicago. Today, he's a construction superintendent, a husband and a father.

He's also a concealed carrier who takes the responsibility seriously.

"Staying proficient with your firearms is huge, especially when you're concealed carrying."

That morning, Nick and his crew were between breaks when they noticed a man sitting on a wall across the street.

He was covered from head to toe.

Ski mask. Gloves.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, Nick knew something didn't look right.

Then a young woman and her mother walked out of a nearby restaurant.

The man ran toward the young woman, threw her to the ground, and put a gun to her temple.

Nick moved behind a truck and slowly drew his firearm.

He ordered the man to drop the gun.

Instead, the man turned toward Nick.

And fired.

Nick returned fire – Four rounds. Two struck the gunman in the center of his body, sending him stumbling behind a car.

But he wasn't done. The man fired at least five rounds back at Nick. Some passed at the same level as Nick's head. Then the gunman stood back up…

Nick fired again.

One round struck the attacker directly in the eye … the gunfight was over.

"It kind of felt like I had an angel on my shoulder that day."

But Nick's ordeal wasn't. When police arrived, Nick made sure they could see exactly what they were dealing with.

His shirt was tucked behind his holstered firearm. His hands were raised. Officers told him not to reach for the gun.

Then they put him in handcuffs.

He was taken to a squad car and transported to the precinct. A short time earlier, he'd been standing on a construction site … now he was sitting in a holding cell trying to understand what had just happened.

"Am I going to jail? Like, I don't know."

As investigators gathered information, the tone began to change. The watch commander eventually came in and ordered Nick's handcuffs removed. Other officers checked on him.

"Hey man, sounds like you did the right thing," Nick remembers them telling him. "You're gonna be fine. Just keep your head up. Know you saved that girl's life today."

But while Nick sat at the precinct, Miranda was learning that her husband had been involved in a shooting.

She was at work when her father repeatedly tried to reach her office. Finally, she got the news … Nick was okay. Then came the rest – he had been involved in a shooting.

Miranda raced home.

Once she was surrounded by family and had a moment to process what was happening, she made another call.

The USCCA.

"I did call USCCA. You know, I have that card in my wallet right now."

Miranda remembers the response being immediate.

"They were ON it."

She was told they would contact an attorney and get the process started. For Miranda, it meant there was one less thing she had to figure out while her husband was sitting in police custody.

"I felt very taken care of. And it was something I didn't have to worry about."

Nick credits his wife with knowing exactly what to do.

"She's a saint, my wife, and she knew exactly what to do to start getting that process going."

When Nick walked through the door, Miranda knew how differently the day could have ended.

"I think this is the longest hug we've ever had."

They were grateful he was alive. But surviving the gunfight didn't mean Nick simply went back to the life he'd had before it. Miranda knew there would be another kind of aftermath.

Nick now lives with severe PTSD and has sought psychiatric help to deal with it. The shooting changed the way their family looks at life. For Miranda, it changed how she sees her husband.

"I hope he sees himself as a good father and a good husband and someone that, in times of need, didn't run away."

For Nick, fatherhood has given what happened that morning an even deeper meaning. "Life today is never taking a day for granted."

Coming home after a long day and seeing his son's smile now puts everything else into perspective. "It's like nothing else matters."

Nick trained because he chose to carry a firearm. That training mattered when he recognized a threat. It mattered when he drew from behind cover. It mattered when rounds were coming toward him. And it still mattered when the shooting stopped.

Because being prepared isn't only about knowing how to use your firearm. It's knowing what to do before, during and after the moment you hoped would never come.

Nick used to see stories like his on the news. Something terrible happened to somebody else, somewhere else. Then one morning, it happened to him. "I don't think people understand that this stuff is real. These bad people do exist. It's not just in the movies. It is real."