A quick trip to the neighborhood store for a late-night snack left a Shelby County wife and mother wounded by gunfire, and her husband is thanking God it wasn’t even worse.

Amanda Smith, 48, was one of three people injured when police say a Montgomery man opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle outside a Calera gas station.

Smith’s husband, Jared Smith, said he believes the suspect was trying to kill his wife and anyone else who was at the store Saturday night.

“What’s apparent to me is he was trying to eliminate the witnesses,’’ Jared said in an interview with AL.com. “That’s what I think.”

The shooting happened shortly before 10:30 p.m. at the Marathon on Highway 25, said Calera police Chief David Hyche.

Quashis Devon Turner, 38, is being held in the Shelby County Jail on multiple charges of attempted murder and discharging a firearm into a dwelling.

Amanda and the couple’s 28-year-old son, Cody, went to the convenience store Saturday night, as they often do because it’s not far from their home. Jared and their younger son were home asleep.

“She was in the car waiting on my son to come back with a candy bar and a Coke,’’ Jared said. “He was in the store.”

It appears Turner may have gotten into some kind of dispute with someone else outside the store, but Hyche said they’re still trying to determine if there was an argument or if the shooting was random.

When Amanda heard the shots, her husband said, she started to back up to get out of the line of fire.

“He (the suspect) saw her (Amanda) and looked her right in the eyes and started laughing and smiling and unloaded at least eight shots – eight shots hit the car – with a high-powered assault rifle,’’ Jared said.

Cody, still inside the store, took cover in the beer cooler and called 911.

“He didn’t know his mama had got shot but he knew they were shooting so he called the law and was hiding,’’ Jared said.

Cody peered from his hiding spot and saw that the suspect had also shot into the store, striking the cashier in the chest.

“Cody built a wall with beer cases and hid,’’ Jared said. “He didn’t move.”

The wounded Amanda fled and told her husband the suspect was following her.

She turned down a side road and turned off her headlights so she could lose him and went around the block before going back home.

“She had enough presence of mind to that because she was scared that he would come to our house and try to finish her off,’’ Jared said. “The whole time she was shot, and blood was everywhere. She called 911 also.”

Amanda pulled into the yard of their home and started blowing the horn. She was bleeding and fearful that their older son was injured or worse inside the store.

“She was panicking, and I laid her down on a pillow,’’ Jared said. “My neighbors heard it and came out and were holding her hand.”

“We didn’t know where she had been shot,’’ he said. “We thought she was bleeding to death right there.”

It turns out Amanda was shot once in the arm. Thankfully, Jared said, the bullet first struck the car door handle which slowed its impact on Amanda.

“It was going right for her heart, and it slowed it down and hit the bone in her arm and didn’t make it into her heart,’’ he said.

Cody was not injured.

Once Amanda was treated en route to the hospital, Jared said he finally had time to start to process all that happened.

“It dawned on me that he tried to kill her, he went after her,’’ he said. “It was crazy.”

Amanda has undergone surgery and remains hospitalized. The store clerk and a third victim – an adult male – are also being treated for their injuries and were last reported to be in serious but stable condition.

Hyche said the investigation is ongoing and they still have not yet determined a motive or why the suspect was in Calera.

Hyche said the rifle used in the shooting had been reported stolen. Turner was quickly taken into custody in Montevallo after the shooting.

“Shooting incidents like the one last night are in the Alabama news every day but very rare in Calera,’’ Hyche said over the weekend.

“Violence in our country is occurring at alarming rates and we must guard against becoming complacent,’’ the chief said.

“Last night multiple citizens provided valuable information and three law enforcement agencies worked together immediately and seamlessly to prevent additional violent acts.”

Jared said it’s been an emotional time for the family.

“I’m so thankful the bullet hit that handle. It was a weird sense of, ‘Thank you, Lord, for that handle,’’ he said. “God protected her. Eight shots with a high-powered rifle, it’s amazing she only got hit once.”

“It was a lot of emotions – mad, happy, sad, everything,’’ Jared said. “We’d had such a good Saturday. We’d gone to the rodeo and were thinking what a great Saturday we’d had, and Saturday night it all changed.”