COEUR d'ALENE - Tim Patterson has no doubts he would have pulled the trigger.

He's glad he didn't have to.

But when a woman is being attacked by a man with a knife, Patterson says he'll do what must be done.

"If he had not stopped what he was doing," he says, his voice fading. "He came very close to dying. Really, really close."

Monday afternoon was another normal day of cooking burgers and fries and hot dogs and Philly cheesesteaks for Tim and Debbie Patterson.

Then, about 2 p.m., they heard a scream.

Tim rushed out the back door of The Big Yellow mobile kitchen at the corner of Harrison and Fourth. He looked around the Goodwill parking lot full of cars, and heard another scream. Then, he heard a woman's voice.

"Let go of me," it shrieked.

Patterson charged around a car and stopped. A man had a woman's head pulled back with one hand, and a knife to her throat with the other.

Patterson didn't hesitate.

He drew his Kimber 1911 .45 with a six-shot clip.

"Drop it, or I'll shoot you," he shouted.

The assailant, wearing a hoodie that covered his face, glanced up. He immediately let go of the woman, dropped the knife, raised his arms in the air and fled.

Patterson, who called 911, checked on the victim and stood by the knife until police arrived.

The suspect, described as a man with dark hair about 6-feet tall, remains at large in what police said was an attempted robbery. The woman, a Goodwill employee, was carrying a bank deposit in her purse when she was attacked. The two struggled over the purse when the suspect pulled a knife. That's about when someone came out of the store and yelled at the suspect, and Patterson arrived with his gun.

"You can yell at somebody, but pointing a gun at his head does a lot better job," Patterson said Wednesday as he recounted what happened the day before.

The shaken victim suffered a red mark to her neck, but was otherwise OK.

The attacker's actions angered Patterson.

"I know the lady. She is a sweetheart," he said. "Goodwill does nothing but good for people. They help so many people."

Patterson believes the assailant knew she carried a bank deposit, and police also said that might have been the case.

Whatever the reason for the assault, he's glad he was there to stop it.

"If Debbie and I hadn't heard her scream, he probably would have gotten away with it and I don't know what he would have done to her."

Sgt. Christie Wood, Coeur d'Alene police spokeswoman, said while Patterson's actions were certainly brave and appreciated, police face a fine line when it comes to citizens trying to stop a crime.

Some are more qualified than others to be of assistance, she said. Individuals need to assess the situation and decide whether it's safe for them to get involved.

"I would not want to live in a world without good Samaritans or people that were willing to take a risk to help others, but the police department cannot advocate for that," Wood said. "We would not want to set somebody up to get seriously injured."

The stocky Patterson said he can handle himself.

He has had a concealed weapons permit about 10 years. He has taken handgun courses. He has been on pistol teams. He has gone through instruction at Center Target Sports in Post Falls. He's a hunter.

He lives by what he calls the sheep dog, sheep and wolf theory.

Wolves, he said, are the bad people. Sheep are the innocent ones. Sheep dogs are law enforcement and other "good men not willing to stand by and let evil triumph."

"In Idaho, there's a lot of folks like myself who are not willing to stand by and let evil triumph," he said.

Patterson and his wife are on their fifth season of operating The Big Yellow mobile kitchen in Coeur d'Alene. They run their business, billed as offering the "Finest Food on Wheels," six days a week.

Patterson is friendly, talkative and knows the neighborhood.

"Hey, Nick," he said to a Postal Service carrier on Tuesday.

"Hey, Tim, how you doing?" came the response.

The Hauser couple make enough to pay their bills, "not much more," he said, and winters are especially tough. But they love what they do and value their customers.

"I'm just blessed the good Lord has given me a place to make the house payment and keep our bills paid," he said, smiling.

They've had their share of encounters with what he called "unique characters," but no real trouble.

Until Monday.

Patterson, who says he is 53 or 54 - "I'm too old to remember" - brushes aside any hero talk.

"A hero is putting his life at risk in order to sacrifice part of himself in order to help somebody else. In my case, I don't believe I was putting my life at risk at all. I had a gun. I was going to help her. I never felt in jeopardy by this guy at all."

But he did say he hopes his actions deliver a message to the bad guys:

"In Idaho, there's a lot of folks who carry a weapon with them, and they're not afraid to protect their friends and family."