She Shot Man Strangling Her, Then 7-Eleven Fired Her For Protecting Herself

A female clerk working alone on the overnight shift has been fired by 7-Eleven for shooting a man trying to strangle her during a Nov. 13 incident, according to local media.

Authorities say Stephanie Dilyard, who was working at an Oklahoma City location of the convenience store chain, declined to accept a counterfeit $100 bill from 59-year-old Kenneth Thompson, who reacted violently to the refusal. Dilyard described the incident to Oklahoma-based KOKH Fox 25.

“He threatened me, and said he was gonna slice my head off, and that’s when I tried to call the police. He started throwing things at me, came behind the counter,” Dilyard said. “I tried to run off, but he grabbed his hands around my neck, and pushed me out of the counter space, and that’s when I pulled out my gun and I shot him.”

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Despite police ruling the incident as self-defense, 7-Eleven’s human resources department contacted Dilyard to inform her she would be terminated “for violating policy,” according to a GoFundMe page she set up.

“For over 2 years I worked overnight from 11pm-7am with the same company, at the same location, but my days didn’t end then, I would come home and be with our 3 year old while my boyfriend works blue-collar,” Dilyard said on the page, which has raised over $28,000. “I would get an average of 3 hours of sleep everyday. However long the toddler napped and 2 hours when my boyfriend gets off work.”