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This time, when the two men came running through the door, their weapons aimed at her, she reached for the gun.
And at the same moment when one of the two men yelled, "You're gonna give it up!" Foster remembers taking three shots, one of which struck would-be robber Thomas Porter Wiley, 24, of Haines City, knocking him to the floor.
After Foster shot him, she said, Wiley jumped up, and he and his accomplice ran from the store and around the corner. Haines City police have identified the accomplice as Zachery Bernard Geddis, 25, of Lake Alfred.
"I saw them run around there," Foster said, indicating the store's plate glass windows and the busy street corner of Fourth Street and Hinson Avenue in Haines City, where the business is located.
"The rest was history," she said.
What Foster did not know, and would not find out until Wednesday, was that the two men ran to a getaway car, which police say was driven by Taurean Jammal Brown, 22, of Davenport.
She did not know until late Tuesday afternoon that Wiley, who had been arrested last year for an armed robbery committed in Osceola County, was discovered less than an hour later in the parking lot of Redwood Apartments in Lake Alfred.
He had died in the same Chevrolet the trio had used to escape, somewhere between Lake Alfred and Haines City.
Police arrested Geddis late Tuesday afternoon at his Lake Alfred home. His first court appearance was Wednesday afternoon when his bail was set at $300,000.
Late Wednesday, Geddis remained in the Polk County Jail and Brown was still at-large.
Foster said that while the situation is regrettable, she does not feel any guilt for opening fire.
"When they came in here with guns, they had an intent," Foster said. "They should have known the consequences. You can't expect someone not to defend their life."
Tuesday night, when she returned home from the Haines City Police Department, Foster said, she did not cry and did not really feel afraid.
She drank two glasses of wine, laid down and went to sleep.
Wednesday morning, she said, she woke up and went about her day as she normally would -- waiting on customers and occasionally working on a crossword puzzle.
The difference was the bevy of admirers and reporters who came and went once the store opened.
"We've had so many well-wishers," Foster said.
Maybe, she said, it's because in some way, her actions Tuesday have provided an example to the community of the importance of being prepared to defend yourself.
But, she said, she doesn't really understand why so many reporters have been contacting her, wanting to tell her story.
"I don't understand it," she said. "I did something I had to do at the moment."
When her husband received a phone call from police, telling him what had happened, his first thought, he said, was, "Oh my God."
Although Bob Foster was in Lakeland, where he had taken his wife's car to be serviced, he was back in Haines City in 30 minutes, Foster said.
"She reacted the only way she could because she was in fear for her life," he said.
This is the second time this year that a robbery victim has turned a gun on a robber.
On June 29, an employee at a Lakeland photo studio shot and wounded an armed robber and a bystander. A Polk County grand jury decided not to charge the employee.
Administrative Assistant State Attorney Chip Thullbery said it has not yet been decided whether to pursue charges against Foster.
"We will review the shooting once police have concluded their investigation," Thullbery said.
Polk County Sheriff's Office Col. Grady Judd said he does not expect any charges to be recommended against Foster.
Lt. Fred Daniell of the Haines City Police Department said the same.
"She had a legal right to protect herself," Judd said.
However, he said, her method of protection is not what he would recommend for everybody.
"Any time that you confront men armed with guns, you're taking a significant personal risk of a shootout and/or death," Judd said. "She took that risk, and they chose not to return fire. So she's alive and well today."
But, Judd said, that is not always the case.
"In my 32 years of experience, I have found that when the other party brandishes a firearm as well, usually there is a shooting, and usually both people end up shot or dead," he said.
"It's risky business to try to pull a gun on someone who already has a gun on you," he said.
In most robbery situations, Daniell said, police would advise just handing over the money, without resistance.
But Foster did not think that was an option for her.
"You go over and over again in your mind what to do but, you don't know until the scenario hits," Foster said. "When you see a gun pointed at you, you think, `I'm going to die.' Saving the money was secondary."
Lauren Glenn can be reached at
lauren.glenn@theledger.com or 863-401-6967.
