PHOENIX – A driver in Arizona stopped to save the life of an ambushed state trooper.

He’s being called a “hero.”

It happened early yesterday on a remote stretch of Interstate 10, west of Phoenix.

Trooper Edward Andersson approached the scene of a violent car wreck and found a female victim who had been ejected from the car.

She later died at a hospital.

The driver of the car attacked Andersson, shot him in the shoulder, and slammed his head against the pavement.

That’s when a man on his way to California pulled over, grabbed a gun from his truck, and shot the attacker.

The suspect reportedly ignored several commands to stand down.

Police say they’re grateful the Good Samaritan intervened.

Frank Milstead, the Director of Arizona’s Department of Public Safety told reporters:

“I would just say that at this point thank you because I don’t know if my trooper would be alive today without his assistance.”

The trooper was airlifted to a hospital and is expected to survive.

Police don’t know a motive for the attack or if the woman killed in the wreck had any ties to the suspect.