Days before Christmas in Canton, Ohio, Walmart employees lived through heart-stopping seconds when a shoplifting detention nearly turned into tragedy.
Some employees noticed two young people stealing different items from the supermarket, so they notified the police and temporarily held them in the lost and found office. After a few minutes, an officer arrived at the scene and began the protocol of identifying the suspects and checking them for weapons. Everything seemed like just another routine day.
However, from one second to the next everything escalated when the man, later identified as 21-year-old Shane C. L. Newman, began reaching for his jacket’s pocket. Everyone was left perplexed, including his companion, identified as Katerina D. Jeffrey, when Shane pulled out a gun and pulled the trigger at one of the Walmart workers.
Luckily for everyone, the young man forgot to take the safety off, and in those key seconds the officer, guards, and Walmart employees managed to subdue him and take the gun away. It was later found that both were carrying narcotics. Newman faces multiple serious charges, including attempted murder charges, while his alleged companion faces charges as an accomplice to robbery.