YUCAIPA (CBSLA.com) — An Inland Empire man Sunday chased down a purse thief who stabbed a mother in a parking lot, only to be stabbed himself. 
 
 Troy Cansler, of Yucaipa, died from his injuries. 
 
 The Good Samaritan’s wife is still trying to make sense of it. 
 
 “He didn’t think about what might happen. He always thought he was invincible,” Cansler’s wife, Autum, said. “I always thought he was pretty invincible, too…but he wasn’t. But that was pretty heroic what he did.” 
 
 The attack happened Sunday night in a parking lot on the 33000 block of Yucaipa Boulevard. 
 
 Police say the female victim was with her 2-year-old child. She put her purse on the roof of her car when the thief snatched it. She confronted him and he stabbed her with a knife. 
 
 Cansler saw what was happening and chased down the suspect, who fatally stabbed Cansler. 
 
 “He died a hero, knowing that he did something good, and that he saved two people, not only one, by taking his own life. And that’s the ultimate thing you can do,” Cansler’s daughter Jordyn Glazier said. 
 
 The mother Cansler helped save is home from the hospital and recovering. 
 
 Police were able to track down the suspect, who was hiding at a nearby bar after the attacks. 
 
 “I just want to know why. Why would they want to rob a woman with a baby? What did they think they were going to get from her?” Autum Cansler said. 
 
 Glazier says she’s trying to stay strong: “I just ask for everyone that knows me and that sees me on here that they just give me hope when I go back to school.” 

 A 26-year-old Yucaipa man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to murder and attempted murder charges in connection with an alleged purse-snatching that turned deadly, prosecutors said. 
 
 Deputies were called to the Stater Bros parking lot on Yucaipa Boulevard around 9:37 p.m. on Sunday after a report of an armed robbery and assault, according to a news release from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. 
 
 When they arrived, deputies found Krystina Hanrahan suffering from apparent stab wounds, the release stated. 
 
 The 26-year-old woman told deputies that a man, later identified as Vincent DeLeon, stabbed her and stole her purse. 
 
 Hanrahan who was with her toddler when she was assaulted said that a stranger came to her aid and ran after her attacker. 
 
 That stranger was Troy Cansler. 
 
 Investigators said Cansler caught up with DeLeon in the area of 4th Street near Yucaipa Boulevard. 
 
 The two struggled and 47-year-old Cansler was fatally stabbed, the release stated. 
 
 DeLeon was arrested a short time later. 
 
 Hanrahan was stabbed five times; twice in the arm and three times in the chest. 
 
 On Tuesday, she described Cansler as an angel. 
 
 “I spoke to his mother today and I said thank you for raising someone who would put their life on the line,” Hanrahan said. 
 
 Cansler’s daughter said her dad was just being himself; helping out someone in need. 
 
 “I’m very proud,” said 12-year-old Jordyn Glazier. 
 
 “He was everything I could ask for in a dad… everything and more,” she said. 
 
 A Facebook memorial page was set up Monday for Cansler.
– A 47-year-old dad is dead after police say he chased down an assailant who robbed and stabbed a woman near Los Angeles. Authorities say the assailant stole a 26-year-old woman's purse in a grocery store parking lot and stabbed her five times in front of her toddler Sunday night. At that point, a stranger named Troy Cansler came to her aid, chased the attacker, and then got fatally stabbed in the ensuing struggle, reports CBS LA. The woman did not suffer life-threatening injuries, and for that she thanks her savior. "I spoke to his mother today, and I said thank you for raising someone who would put their life on the line,” Krystina Hanrahan tells KTLA-TV. Police arrested Vincent DeLeon, 26, and charged him with murder and attempted murder. Says Cansler's 12-year-old daughter: "I'm very proud. He was everything I could ask for in a dad."