A carjacker died in a fatal car accident shortly after he savagely beat a 72-year-old grandmother. He stole her keys and then perished in a car accident a short time later during his escape.

When she stopped for a Diet Coke at a Shell gas station, Shirlene Hernandez, from San Antonio, Texas, was assaulted.

As he stole her keys, the assailant repeatedly punched the older adult in the face, which left her covered in blood and bruises.

Police said a witness tried to intervene and tackle the suspect, but he managed to get away with the car.

Police found the car totaled on the interstate with the dead carjacker inside soon after.

Hernandez said: “There’s a lot of people who would say what goes around comes around, karma. I did not think that; the only thing I got (was) really sad because he had died.

“Now granted, he had hurt me, but the Lord saw fit to take him out of his misery.”

Hernandez is now left without a vehicle to help her get back and forth to work. She continues to recover from her injuries. Her face is still bruised.

She said: “I just don’t want to quit working, and so I’ve got to somehow get another car. And that takes money and stuff, so I’ve got to figure out what to do.”

A GoFundMe page to help raise funds to buy a replacement car was created by local residents and Hernandez’s granddaughter Helen Garcia.

By Tuesday morning, donations had exceeded $23,000, surpassing the $5,000 goal initially set.