JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- An apartment leasing agent fired last week after grabbing his shotgun and running to help a woman who was shot is being praised by talk-show host Neal Boortz, celebrated on Internet blogs, supported by the National Rifle Association and called a hero by a columnist with the Washington Post.

Colin Bruley told Channel 4 that he didn't reach for his gun until he heard his neighbor in the Oaks at Mill Creek Apartments on Monument Road say she was shot and thought a gunman might still be on the loose.

"She was in a desperate need for help 'Someone help me, I've been shot,'" Bruley said. "I reacted to a situation and it was a matter of seconds."

The shooting turned out to be a domestic dispute. Bruley never fired the gun.

He also tried to stop the bleeding from the woman's leg prior to paramedics arriving.

While his neighbors commended his actions, Bruley's employers fired him for violating company policy. They said that bringing a weapon to the workplace violated their rules, as was failing to call 911 or notify his supervisors of the incident.

Bruley said he was too shaken up to call his employers the night of the shooting.

The owner of the Oaks at Mill Creek, Village Green Companies, provided Channel 4 a timeline of events that included information that Bruley was notified of the company policy about firearms at a new hire orientation in Spring 2005, received updated emergency plans and procedures in March and April of this year.

The company said Bruley's rent was delinquent and his May rent check had bounced, according to the company. They said Burley's lease was missing from the management office.

The company also said that a police officer said Bruley's attempt at medical aid to the victim of the June 12 shooting at the apartments "actually caused the victim more harm than good."

Despite the company's version of the facts, Bruley's firing has brought statements of outrage and support from around the country.

Emil Steiner, who writes the OFF/beat column for the Washington Post, wrote: "He put the life of his neighbor -- who was also his client -- ahead of his own safety. Which raises the question: Isn't this the kind of person any company would want as an employee?"

Dan Bobinski, the director of the Center for Workplace Excellence, referred to Bruley's firing "despicable, this trend is of punishing Good Samaritans."

Bruley told the local station's Adam Landau that he did what he thought was appropriate for the situation and he doesn't think he should be fired for it.

"Going out there unarmed, I think, would have been dumb," Bruley said. "Anybody that had access to a weapon would have done the same thing."