NASHVILLE, Tenn (WTVF) — She's accused of shoplifting from a local pharmacy. Now, a 24-year old mom and her newborn baby are fighting to survive.
Police say a store worker followed the pregnant mom and another woman to the parking lot where, moments later, that employee pulled a gun and started shooting. Now he's claiming self-defense.
"We're starting off with an employee who left the inside of the business to go after someone who committed allegedly a shoplifting offense." said Leonardo.
Newschannel 5 Legal Analyst, Nick Leonardo says it will be up to a grand jury to prove if a Walgreens store employee was within the law when he shot a pregnant shoplifter. "Basically, it has to be a reasonable belief that this force that was needed to protect you from serious bodily injury or death."
The investigation right now shows that Walgreens employee Mitarius Boyd was notified that Travonsha Ferguson who was seven months pregnant and another woman were taking cosmetics and various items from the store and left without paying.
Boyd told police he followed them to their car said he began recording them with his cell phone -- when the women began placing the items into the trunk.
He said one of the women pulled a can of mace and began spraying it at him.
Boyd told police he pulled out his gun and started shooting out of fear -- claiming self-defense.
"In this particular case, if you're being if you were being maced, to pull out a firearm and shoot someone eight times, I mean, some could view that as excessive force and too much force or more force than was needed to dispel that threat," said Leonardo.
Ferguson's family says she was shot 4 times in stomach and twice in each leg.
An emergency C-section was performed, and the baby was not hit by gunfire but is in the NICU weighing just two pounds..
"It doesn't appear that it was the justifiable use of deadly force. Again, but this investigation is still ongoing. And so, you know, we'll have to determine if the district attorney will determine is that a reasonable use of deadly force. And if all we have is someone who is using mace, you know that can be problematic," said Leonardo.
Police say the driver dropped her wounded friend off at the hospital and left. Police have not located the second woman or the car.
