"Thank you for coming, I'll see you in Hell!"
Posted on 11/22/2025 11:02:45 AM PST by Twotone
A male entered a 7-Eleven in Oklahoma City just before midnight Thursday and tried to buy burritos, beef sticks, and ice cream with a counterfeit $100 bill, according to a KOKH-TV news video.
But the female clerk wasn't buying the con.
What's more, the clerk said she was calling police, KWTV-DT reported — and she refused the male's demand that she give him back the counterfeit bill, Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police Department added to the station.
Then the thug reportedly got violent.
“He came around the counter, got behind the counter where she was, and grabbed her by the throat and began choking her violently," Knight added to KWTV.
The clerk — 25-year-old Stephanie Dilyard — told KOKH-TV that "he threatened me, said he was gonna slice my head off, and then that's when I tried to call the police. I realized he started throwing things at me, came behind the counter. I tried to run off, but he grabbed his hands around my neck, and pushed me out of the counter space."
Knight added to KWTV that "at some point during this altercation, she pulled out a pistol and shot him." Police said the suspect — who also was carrying a knife — was shot in the stomach and that the entire attack was caught on video, the station noted.
The suspect — identified as 59-year-old Kenneth Thompson — fled the store and called 911, KOKH reported.
“Reporting he had been shot,” Knight told KWTV. “Although he was not forthcoming with what happened when officers first met with him.”
Thompson was arrested at the hospital and charged with assault and battery, threatening acts of violence, attempting to pass a fake bill, and a felony warrant for violating parole, KOKH said.
KWTV noted that he'll be transferred to the Oklahoma County Detention Center once he's released from the hospital.
As for Dilyard, police told KWTV that she suffered minor injuries and was not arrested; police confirmed to KOKH, in fact, that she's protected under Oklahoma's self-defense law.
Yet after all that, 7-Eleven fired Dilyard on Monday for using her gun, KOKH said.
"They said that they were going to separate from employment because of a violation of policy," she added to the station, noting that she had been working alone from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. for more than two years.
KOKH said attempts to reach 7-Eleven for a statement on Dilyard's firing and any changes to employee policy were unsuccessful. KWTV said a 7-Eleven clerk stated to the station that employees are not allowed to carry firearms at work. KWTV added that 7-Eleven hasn't responded to its question about whether security will be provided following this attack.
Dilyard told KOKH that she'll always choose to preserve her life over preserving her job.
"This was a situation where I felt like I was put in a corner between choosing between my job and my life, and I'm always going to choose my life because there's people that depend on me," she told the station. "Just, I'm going home, you know. That's my goal. I need to be here for my kids."
Dilyard added to KOKH that she hopes her ordeal will be a wake-up call to prevent other clerks, especially women, from being harmed: "If I'd known that, you know, there's a potential where somebody could be for real in taking my life away that I will do whatever it takes ... I hope that ... women see that, and you know, they'll do the same thing. You have the right to defend yourself."
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Boycott time.
I won't do business with them anymore.
That is screwed.
No woman should EVER work a retail store into the late hours where the customers can easily get into the cashiers area.
WORKING ALONE 7-11 PM FOR OVER 2 YEARS???
I HOPE SHE SUES 7-11.
THEY AREN’T VERY WORRIED ABOUT THEIR EMPLOYEES
If I could remember the last time I went to a 7-11 I’d think about it.
ME EITHER
7-Eleven trying to insulate the company from a lawsuit. I blame our litigious society.
"Thank you for coming, I'll see you in Hell!"
7-11 had always had a no weapons policy. I worked there during high school and early college. We were never to get into a confrontation with a shoplifter or even a robber. Give them what they want and get them out.
I support her right to protect herself but she did violate multiple policies that led to her having to use her gun.
Nothing in that store was mine and nothing was worth my life.
The made her keep working there? Yeah yeah. I know.
About twenty years ago, two women working that night shift at a convenience in my town were murdered by a psycho with a hammer.
If 7-Eleven doesn’t want employees defending themselves, they should hire armed security. Their choice.
You can contact 7-Eleven customer service by phone at 1-800-255-0711.
Customer Relations representatives are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Nothing unthinkable about it. That’s been the rule at those kinds of jobs forever. Do not fight a robber, do not bring a fire arm, do not shoot at a robber. Break those rules (or frankly any rules) you get fired.This was the rule at all the often robbed jobs I got in the 80s and 90s. Probably was the rule long before then. And hasn’t changed since. These companies don’t want shootouts, they don’t want employees missing the bad guy and shooting customers, they don’t want to risk the liability. She made a choice, probably the right choice, but rules is rules and 7-11 cannot risk leniency on this one.
Your life was worth your life. Same for her. The perp escalated. Some perps will kill even if all demands are met.
What led to her having to use her gun was her refusal to accept a counterfeit bill. Is it 7-11's policy to accept bogus cash?
She most certainly made the right choice. 7-11 can pound sand. Most convenience stores are this way. We have a Murphy Express fuel station/convenience store near us that chose to close doors at 8:00 PM rather than have a lone worker on duty when they were short employees. Store policy appears to be two people on duty at all times.
7eleven is famous for having only one clerk on duty at a time. If they followed QuikTrip’s plan, and adequately staffed their stores, they might not be known as the white trash of convenience stores. They obviously prize the almighty dollar over the safety of their employees.
Almost every company, on advice from their lawyers, has a policy like this.
I used to work at a gas station and, after one very scary encounter, I would carry. I did so with the full knowledge that if I ever had to use my pistol that I would undoubtedly be let go. But it was better then dying.
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