When Orange City firefighter-paramedic Caroline Dorton heard a woman had been stabbed in the parking lot of the Chili's restaurant where she was eating in Lake Mary on Sunday, she did what came naturally. Dorton rushed outside to help.
But the stabbed woman's husband returned. He saw Dorton and another person trying to help his bleeding wife and ran them over, police said. The wife was killed, and Dorton was badly injured.
The man would later kill his two children before killing himself along Interstate 4 near DeBary.
Now Dorton is recovering at Orlando Regional Medical Center where she was listed in critical condition on Tuesday afternoon, according to hospital spokesman Geo Morales.
Dorton's heroism did not surprise her colleagues.
"She wouldn't hesitate to help anyone in any situation," fellow firefighter-paramedic Brian Jankowski said on Tuesday. "When she's here she's always willing to help everybody. She's always the first person to suggest helping (out) around here.