(ReclaimingAmerica.net) – An employee of a Family Dollar store has been arrested and charged with attempted murder after shooting at least ten times a shoplifter who attacked him first.
24-year-old store worker Kevin Salas Madrid is presently in custody and facing several charges, while the shoplifter remains in hospital in critical condition.
The violent incident occurred a Family Dollar in Phoenix, Arizona, located near 68th Avenue and Indian School Road, just before 8 p.m. last Wednesday, Fox 10 Phoenix reported, as cited by Breitbart News.
According to witness reports quoted by KTVK/KPHO, Family Dollar employee Kevin Salas Madrid found an alleged serial shoplifter stealing goods inside the store, warned him to stop, and asked him to leave.
The shoplifter refused, started arguing with the employee, and punched him in the face. One witness said the punch was so strong that it knocked out Madrid’s glasses.
At that point, the store worker pulled out a handgun and started firing at the shoplifter.
According to Fox 10, Madrid shot the thief ten times and kept firing even after the attacker collapsed on the floor.
However, an AZFamily report said the shoplifter was hit 15 times, and the Family Dollar employee kept shooting until he “emptied his gun’s magazine.”
The shoplifter who threw the first punch survived but was rushed to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The Family Dollar employee was booked on a second-degree murder charge. He faces several charges, including attempted murder.
Madrid later told the investigators that he could not see whether the shoplifter had any weapons on him before he opened fire, according to reports cited by The New York Post.
In a probable cause statement, police officers wrote that Madrid had told them “he had made the worst decision of his life” by opening fire on the attacker.
“Kevin explained he was struck ad decided to shoot but looking back, he realized it was egregious,” according to the statement.
According to court documents, when the police arrived at the crime scene, Madrid identified himself as the shooter and told the officers the victim was a repeat shoplifter.
A witness quoted by AZ Family, who first only overheard the argument between the two, said that when the shoplifter fell to the ground, the Family Dollar worker approached the fallen body and kept firing. According to the witness’s account, Madrid didn’t catch the shoplifter stealing but confronted him right after seeing him enter the store because he was familiar with him.
What is your opinion about the store employee being charged even though he was attacked by the thief? Share your view by emailing [email protected]. Thank you.
Phoenix, Arizona, Family Dollar employee Kevin Salas Madrid is under arrest after allegedly shooting a shoplifter at least ten times. https://t.co/V0xk72n0dN
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) March 27, 2023
