The manager of a drive-in theater in Hockley, Texas was forced to defend herself against a pair of robbers after she was beaten with a baseball bat by one of the suspects.

Authorities said preliminary information suggests two men sneaked into the concession stand while it was still open and waited for it to close.

They came out when they thought everyone was gone, but two managers were still upstairs and they heard rummaging, authorities said.

According to Newsweek, the two managers went to investigate the noise and found a man hiding in the closet of a concession area downstairs.

“They ordered the male out, the male did comply, and it appeared that he was possibly armed with a knife,” Gonzalez said. “At that point, they began giving him verbal commands, and the male exited the location and took off without incident.”

But then second male suspect appeared, who may have been hiding in a closet or restroom, Gonzalez said. The second male was allegedly partially masked, wearing gloves and armed with a baseball bat.

Police said the manager claimed the second man attacked her with a bat, and she was forced to defend herself.

“She did retrieve a weapon that she had on her person and fired, striking the male,” Gonzalez said. “The male has been confirmed deceased at the scene.”

Thank goodness she had a gun for self-defense, because otherwise this story could have ended up very differently. While police are searching for the second suspect, they did recover both the baseball bat and the knife at the scene of the would-be robbery. Sheriff Gonzalez called the managers “pretty sharp and alert”, and noted they “took care of business” when their lives were threatened.

“These folks are just trying to run a business out here. You know, it brings nostalgia for me. I remember coming to drive-in theater similar to this when I was growing up, but they’re far and few between,” Gonzalez said.

“It’s pretty isolated out here,” he continued. “They did what they needed to do to protect themselves.”

I wonder if any of the anti-gun advocates who’ve been pushing for companies to declare themselves gun-free zones will have any harsh words for the owner of the Showboat Drive-In for allowing his employees to be armed at work. Why does anybody need a gun at a drive-in movie theater, right? Well, as it turns out, the gun in the hand of that manager may very well have saved her from a much more violent assault or even death. Who knows how many nights she carried her firearm with her, never facing any trouble, before she needed that gun to protect her life? As it turns out, she never needed that gun at work.. until she absolutely did.