"Goblin" Thwarted?

I have a friend, who shall remain anonymous, who had an interesting altercation with some big homeless guy on the street and a firearm.
It happened around 11:30 p.m. when he went to his local car wash to wash his car. The neighborhood is urban but far from decrepit, although it’s not very far from some pretty tough parts of town. As he was pouring quarters into the car wash with his back to the street, he sees out of the corner of his eye this homeless looking guy coming toward him. The guy is pretty big well over 6 feet and he’s trying to get his homeless looking girlfriend’s attention without making his presence know to my friend. The big homeless guy was signaling to this girl by jerking his head towards my friend and his unlocked, running car. My friend goes to the front of the car, and makes eye contact with man, just to see what his intentions might be. The big homeless dude keeps walking toward him and is about 30 feet away at this point. My friend asks if he can help the guy by saying, " Can I help you?" The guy doesn’t answer and keeps on the beeline towards him. The guy is wearing a baggy coat as people who live outdoors are want to do, even though it is very warm and very humid, and has his hands in his coat pockets. My friend is concerned at this point for three reasons: first the guy tried to approach him on the stealth, second he has not responded to my friend’s question and finally he has his hands in his pockets. My friend is wearing sneakers with no socks, swim trunks, T-shirt and a Sig Sauer P220 in a FOBUS tactical holster tucked into his shorts. Again he challenges the guy by saying "Don’t come any closer, keep your hands where I can see them." At this point the guy is less than 17 feet away and still coming, my friend lifts his shirt and puts his right hand on the handle of his .45 and holds his left hand up, palm out in case the guy is deaf. The homeless guy stops. He takes his hands out of his pockets and stammers to my friend " Could you tell me how to get to______." Basically, he asks using the local terminology how to get to the next street over. My friend says, "Sure walk to the end of the block take a right and it’s the next street over, you can’t miss it." The homeless looking guy says "Thank you officer, sorry I bothered you" and quickly takes off. Curious to see if the guy really needed directions, my friend waited a couple of minutes and then followed the route he gave the man. The man and his girlfriend were no where to be seen.
My friend is not a cop, but he is licensed to carry firearms, although he rarely does so. He’s never pulled his pistol on anyone before nor does he ever hope to. I asked him if he has any doubts about his actions and he said no. About three months later he saw on the local TV station a story about a man who looked a lot like his interloper arrested for car jacking people in three different towns, including his.
My friend is a law abiding, boring, do your taxes early type. Did he defend his property and perhaps his life with the threat of deadly force or did he needlessly scare off a lost homeless man? What would you have done in the same situation?