A good Samaritan's willingness to help three teenagers was rewarded with a gunshot to the chest, authorities said.

On Tuesday evening, two teenage boys knocked on the door of a 20-year-old woman's northeast valley home, in the 3800 block of Eblick Wash Drive, said Sgt. Chris Tomaino of the Metropolitan Police Department's robbery unit.

"They claimed some people were chasing them, and she let them use a phone," Tomaino said Wednesday.

The woman did not let the boys in her house but offered to drive them home, Tomaino said.

As the woman let the two teens get into a Volkswagen Beetle, a third showed up and also got in the car, he said.

The woman drove to a couple of different locations and then became suspicious, Tomaino said.

They ended up on the east side of Nellis Air Force Base, more than eight miles from the woman's home, at the corner of Shatz Street and Mount Roy Lane, near Hollywood and Lake Mead boulevards.

There, on the edge of a residential neighborhood, the teens attacked the woman, stealing her purse, cash, cell phone and car keys, Tomaino said.

The woman tried to defend herself but was shot, he said. The shooting occurred about 7:35 p.m.

The boys took the car and drove away, leaving the bleeding woman on Shatz Street, Tomaino said.

Two residents of the neighborhood ran to the woman's aid and called 911.

Police later found the Volkswagen engulfed in flames at a housing complex off Alexander and Pecos roads, near where the teens first approached the woman, Tomaino said.

Members of the Las Vegas police gang unit were in the area investigating an unrelated shooting when they stumbled upon two teens, a 14-year-old and a 16-year-old, who were identified through a photo lineup as two of the three people involved in the shooting of the woman, Tomaino said.

The two teens were arrested on one count each of attempted murder, kidnapping and robbery, Tomaino said.

The third teen is still at-large, he said.

Whether the shooter was among those arrested was unclear.

The woman was listed in fair condition at University Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The woman's mother said her daughter was doing better but declined to comment further.

Tomaino said the victim did not do anything wrong by trying to help the teens.

"I can't say she made a mistake," Tomaino said. "She didn't let them into her house.

"They somehow gained her trust while she was talking with them, before she offered them a ride. But the more prudent thing might have been to try and call their parents or the police and let us come out and sort it out. That's what we are paid to do."

Tomaino said the Clark County district attorney's office will determine whether the teens will be charged as adults.