Chapin, SC (WLTX) - When four men ran into business with guns, a Midlands man shot back to protect his family and his store.
Nick Shepard says one afternoon last month, he was helping a customer at Golden Eagle Precious Metals Exchange, but felt a tad uneasy.
"There was a guy in here who wanted to know how much we would pay him for one silver coin, a little weird," he says.
About 15 minutes later, Shepard glanced at his surveillance monitor and saw three masked men burst through the door.
"The only thing I really remember hearing was the sound of jeans rubbing together really fast and so at the moment I pretty much knew they were coming for us," he says.
Surveillance video shows two men jumping over the counter and running to the back where Shepard, his wife, and an employee were hiding.
"By the time I picked my head up I was looking at a gun in my face," he says. "The first one comes around the corner looking directly at me, he utters a phrase and jumps back for a split second, that gave me the opportunity to chamber a round and by the time I chambered a round he had already shot one at me."
The shot went through Shepard's desk chair, where he was sitting just seconds before.
"I duck to the side here chamber another round and by the time he fires one off I'm able to get my gun up and fire at him."
Shepard fired several times catching the first suspect in the wrist. Amid the shrapnel and bullets, Shepard says he was not frazzled.
"I was actually very calm and I don't remember much emotion at all, you know? You just react."
Deputies arrested all four suspects a few weeks later. One suspect still had stitches where he was shot.
The shop is getting back to normal, but Shepard says it won't ever be quite the same.
"Every time this door, you know, we hear that sound [of the door opening] you know we all flinch a little bit, still."
Two of the suspects were arrested in a home invasion as well.
Since the attempted robbery, Shepard has placed an automated lock on the front door.