Just seems to me that if you are caught in the act of committing a crime; you forfeit any and any right to protection, including being beaten to death. If you don’t like the risks, don’t do the crime.
I would love to be on that jury. The Walmart workers would have NOTHING to fear.
I would be shocked if this results in a conviction, unless there’s more to the story we don’t know.
We had a high profile case a couple yrs ago. A plumber that left his car running in his driveway shot a man dead after the man hopped in the truck and drove away. The prosecutor charged him with manslaughter and it went to trial. Although the plumber made some questionable statements at the scene that should have hurt him at trial and his explanation later that he thought the thief was flashing a gun didn’t make sense (he was fleeing the scene and was quite a distance away from the plumber), the jury acquitted him and said it was justified, so his defense was paid for.
People are sick of thieves and feel they get what they deserve.