Police in Fort Worth, Texas, are investigating a shooting that has rippled through the community after a man shot another man accused of soliciting children for sex.

​It happened outside of a south Fort Worth apartment complex: Marckus Renfro, 33, has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and is being held in the Tarrant County Jail, according to court and police reports per The Root.

​Officers were called Friday to the 3700 block of Century Place after reports that a man appeared intoxicated and was approaching children with sexual propositions, Fort Worth police said. Once police arrived, they discovered a man with a gunshot wound to the groin. He was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive.

​Renfro’s family says he stepped in to protect minors in the neighborhood, including young relatives, after hearing that the man had been bothering children.

​"My little cousin told me that the dude said, ‘Oh, come back and smoke some meth with me,' you know, 'have some drugs,’" said Dontavius Williams, Renfro's brother-in-law, according to Fox2. “We had already heard that a certain dude had been messing with other little kids around here.”

​Renfro’s family described him as reacting to a threat, not someone searching for trouble.

​"They exchanged some words," said Markus' wife, Jamie Ramirez Renfro. "When Markus was walking away, he just ran up on him, like he was trying to approach him, like to hurt him in some way." That’s when police reportedly heard a gunshot, per reports.

​Police, however, have not said Renfro acted in self-defense and have continued the investigation.

​Some neighbors see Renfro as a protector who did what others would not, while prosecutors are treating the shooting as a violent crime. Renfro also has prior charges listed in jail records, including assault-related offenses and evading arrest, CBS News reported.

​For now, the question in Fort Worth is not just what happened in that parking lot, but how far someone can go when they think they are defending children.