After walking into the Quick Stop on Vick Street in Portsmouth, she realized there was an armed robbery in progress. She instantly assessed the situation, turned around and ran out of the store.

The masked gunman followed her. He told her to lie on the ground, said he was going to kill her and that he wanted her purse. She yelled no and kept running. After playing cat and mouse around parked cars, she threw her bag across the parking lot and her assilant chased after it, ending a potentially deadly encounter.

When I asked Sherin Friday night why she didn't follow his instructions she said, "When he told me to lay down in the parking lot, it went through my head that if I did he would shoot me in the back of the head." Sherin's gut instinct paid off.

Whenever I work on stories like this one, where someone is staring down the barrel of a gun and doesn't follow orders, I always wonder where their courage and conviction to ignore established safety tenets comes from.

Personally, if I were in the same situation I would have just followed orders and said a few prayers.

What would you do?

p.s. - Kudos to 13News photographer Andy Grossman for putting together a beautifully edited story. He took great surveillance video and gave it the Hollywood treatment, the package was a truly amazing to watch. Thanks Andy!