She was fired from Wal-Mart after stopping a thief from stealing a $600 computer, a Wichita, Kan., woman has said.

Heather Ravenstein, who has worked for Wal-Mart for two years, said," I'm a single mom, and I don't know what I'm going to do."

She was kicked and punched Friday night by a man who was trying to carry a computer out of the Wal-Mart store in Wichita's West Kellogg neighborhood, Ravenstein said.

Ravenstein told The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle that the man eventually surrendered the computer and left.

The Eagle reported on Wednesday that the next day, Ravenstein was fired for violating a Wal-Mart policy that prohibits anyone but a manager or someone in asset protection from stopping theft. She had never heard of the policy, Ravenstein said.

Ravenstein put her safety and perhaps the safety of customers at risk by confronting the thief, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Anna Taylor said in an e-mail to the Eagle. (With Inputs from Agencies)