A courageous Oklahoma 7-Eleven clerk was fired for capturing a buyer, who tried to strangle her and threatened to “slice her head off” — as a result of she used her personal gun, violating the comfort retailer’s coverage.
Stephanie Dilyard, 25, mentioned she was working alone on the Oklahoma Metropolis 7-Eleven simply after midnight on Nov. 14 when a person got here in and tried to pay for a trove of junk meals with a counterfeit $100 invoice, KOKH reported.
The mom of three mentioned that when she referred to as the person out on the invoice being bogus, he started threatening her and have become erratic.
“He threatened me, and mentioned he was gonna slice my head off, and that’s once I tried to name the police,” she recalled.
Dilyard mentioned the brute began hurling objects at her earlier than he rushed behind the counter and put his arms on her.
“I attempted to run off, however he grabbed his arms round my neck, and pushed me out of the counter house, and that’s once I pulled out my gun and I shot him,” she mentioned.
The suspect, Kenneth Thompson, fled the shop after he was shot within the abdomen. The 59-year-old made it a number of blocks away from the 7-Eleven earlier than calling 911.
The alleged violent fraudster was taken into custody on the hospital and charged with assault and battery, threatening acts of violence, making an attempt to go counterfeit forex, and violating parole on an impressive felony warrant.
Investigators dominated that Dilyard’s actions had been justified underneath Oklahoma’s stand-your-ground legislation, which permits individuals to make use of lethal pressure when confronting an imminent menace of loss of life or severe hurt.
Whereas authorities have cleared the 25-year-old mother, her employer fired her simply days after the horrifying ordeal on Nov. 17.
“They mentioned that they had been going to separate from employment due to a violation of coverage,” Dilyard, who had been working the in a single day shift alone from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. for greater than two years, mentioned.
Dilyard, who nonetheless had a scratch on her neck and burn marks on her finger from firing the gun, informed the outlet that every one she cared about when she was getting attacked was getting residence to her children.
“This was a state of affairs the place I felt like I used to be put right into a nook between selecting between my job, and my life, and I’m at all times going to decide on my life as a result of there’s people who depend upon me. Simply, I’m going, I’m going residence, you realize. I must be right here for my children,” she mentioned.
She hopes what she endured will drive adjustments that higher shield clerks — particularly girls — and guarantee they aren’t afraid to defend themselves when going through a life-or-death menace.
“If I’ve identified that there’s a possible that any person is for actual on taking my life away that I’ll do no matter it takes, and I hope that ladies see that, and so they’ll do the identical factor,” she mentioned.
“You’ve a proper to defend your self.”
Since shedding her job, Dilyard has launched a GoFundMe to assist her household with bills whereas she’s out of labor and mentioned she had zero regrets for defending herself.
“Now we have no safety, and we’re not allowed to hold self protection weapons, together with mace,” she wrote. “That’s is why I made a decision to hold within the first place.”
“I by no means anticipated for me to be on this state of affairs, however I did what I needed to do to go residence to my children. I used to be a superb worker, dedicated and decided, however in-between a rock and a tough place I needed to make a fast resolution—lose my life, or lose my job,” she added.
The Submit has reached out to 7-Eleven for remark.
