MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – Crews rushed a Family Dollar employee to the hospital after Mobile police said she was stabbed by a shoplifter.
It happened around 2 p.m. Thursday at the store on Dauphin Island Parkway at Halls Mill Road.
Another store employee told FOX10 News a woman was trying to steal two bottles of dish detergent when the manager started watching her.
“When she walked to the back of the store my manager like she wasn’t following her, but she was looking through the aisles trying to see if she was bout to try to steal again,” the witness said.
Police said the victim’s injuries are critical.
Officers identified the suspect as Takea Shackleford.
Shackleford actually admitted she stabbed the woman while she was being escorted out of MPD headquarters.
She claims it was in self-defense.
“Because I’ve been shoplifting for days out of Walmart and I don’t know what came under me and that lady came at me and I was scared for my life. That’s why I stabbed her,” Shackleford said.
The employee who witnessed it says it was her general manager watching Shackleford because she believed she was trying to steal.
The employee says that’s when Shackleford became aggressive and pulled out a knife.
“She bum rushed her and that’s when the lady swung the knife at her, twice, or three times,” the witness said. “She swung the knife at her three times and my manager was trying to fight back but by that time she had already stabbed her in the neck.”
Shackleford admitted she was stealing, claiming it was dish detergent she tried to walk out with.
“I was fixing to but I went out of the store and I called the police first before I went back in there and stole a bag of tide pods,” Shackleford said.
Mobile Police Corporal Katrina Frazier warns workers about confronting criminals.
“If you are working at a store, anywhere where you’re dealing with the general public, and they are attempting to leave that store with items, do not attempt to stop them because you do not know if they are armed with any type of weapon,” Corporal Frazier said. “And your life is more important than those merchandise.”
Shackleford is charged with attempted murder and first-degree robbery.
According to police, she faces additional charges connected to an incident at the Walmart on Government Boulevard in July.
In that case, police said she stole items from the store and hit two people with her car as she escaped. They suffered minor injuries.
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