What was meant to be an act of kindness, turned into a harrowing episode for a 40 year old Gadsden woman.

As the woman was driving along East Broad Street at around 4:00 on Sunday afternoon she saw a man she thought she recognized walking along the street; however, when she pulled over to offer him a ride, the man stuck a gun in her face, then forced her to drive to a house that had been abandoned – where he robbed her.

According to the incident report, the woman had initially refused to hand over her purse to the suspect, but he fired the gun twice and struck her several times with the butt of the gun, knocking her out. She told police when she came to several hours later she saw items from her purse scattered across the floor and her car was still parked outside.

The victim was transported to an area hospital – reportedly suffering several lacerations to the head.

The investigation into the matter is on-going.

(al.com/www.al.com)