Jennifer Wertz was fired from her position at a Circle K gas station in Albuquerque after shooting Ferron Mendez as he attempted to rob her. The community has now banded together to donate money to Wertz to help cover for her lost wages.

Mendez pointed a gun towards Wertz during an attempted robbery, making Wertz realize “it was either shoot or be shot.” When asked, Wertz said that she would rather be alive and without a job than dead. Sentiments shared by most human beings. It was later discovered to be an airsoft gun missing the orange tip, but in the heat of the moment, Wertz did what almost any other would have done to preserve their life.

Wertz’s mother responded to her firing by creating a GoFundMe page. After recalling the case, Wertz’s mother explained that her daughter was in need of financial help. The GoFundMe page says:

On 09-18-2017 my daughter was faced with something no person should have to face. That was shoot or be shot. Two armmed robbers came into her work and pointed a gun in her face. She had her gun in her pocket and protected herself and her friends. As a result of saving peoples lives and her own she has now been put out of work for 2 weeks and will most likly lose her job she has had for 5 years. My daughter has 3 kids to care for and needs help now.  The kids are 8, 6, and 2 and with no income she isnt sure what to do. She wont ask for help herself so im doing this for her. She is torn apart emotionally and is in need of time to recover from this ordeal. She has always been a good person, mom, and daughter. She is in need of dire help to support her family. She was already living pay check to pay check and now has no savings or nothing to fall back on. Please help as much as you can to support her and her family until she can find a new job.

The mother of three has now earned over $71,000, which is well over the original goal of $20,000.