Employee opens fire

Published 10:06 pm Monday, June 20, 2011

A disgruntled employee created a dangerous situation Sunday morning when shots were fired at the Winn Dixie store on West Dallas Avenue.

According to Lt. Johnny King of the Selma Police Department, Devin Pearson, 23, of Selma, entered the store at about 10:40 a.m. carrying two pistols, one of which turned out to be a BB gun, and aired some grievances with employees of the store.

“He came in to talk about some personal problems and had two guns on him at the time,” King said. “He came in to explain what was going on and was very upset.”

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The store manager came out to talk to Pearson and calm him down, King said. However, he said Pearson became upset with the conversation.

“The manager was trying to calm him down and I guess that made him think they weren’t taking him seriously,” King said. “He fired a couple of shots at that point, but no one was hit.”

While Pearson was trying to reload his weapon, King said the staff overtook him and wrestled him to the ground, holding him until authorities could arrive.

Pearson was charged with making a terrorist threat and booked in the Dallas County Jail. As of Monday morning he was being held without bond.

The situation, King said, was simply a case where Pearson had a number of problems and chose the wrong path to find a solution.

“It looks like he just wanted more hours and more wages and that’s the way he decided to fix it,” King said.