DAYTON — An auto parts store employee seen on a social media video firing a weapon after being assaulted by a customer is facing charges.
Police responded to the O’Reilly Auto Parts store in W. Third Street in Dayton Thursday evening on reports of a shooting.
Video posted to social media showed two women in a physical altercation. When the pair briefly broke away from each other, an employee, later identified as 31-year-old Ke’Laron Watson, went to the counter, grabbed a gun and fired one shot at the other woman.
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That woman was taken to Miami Valley Hospital by her boyfriend, according to the affidavit and statement of facts. News Center 7 checked Monday afternoon and that woman had been discharged from the hospital, according to a Miami Valley Hospital spokesperson.
When police arrived on scene, they said Watson admitted to shooting the other woman and told officers the gun was in her car. Police then took Watson into custody.
Watson told officers that she was helping the woman find a car part when she became upset and threatened her. She also told officers that the woman attacked her and “beat her about the head with her fists,” according to court documents.
Watson said she fired her gun because she though the woman was coming at her for another attack.
“She put her hands on me and she pulled my hair out and everything else. And while she was beating on me, I shot her,” Watson said in a 911 called obtained through a public records request.
Video of the incident showed the attack and Watson retrieving a gun, pointing it at the woman and firing it at her as she walked away, according to court records.
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Customers at the store told News Center 7 that they were trying to wrap their heads around what happened.
“I don’t know, I’m glad I am not in that situation where I have to chose to defend myself and shoot somebody,” Enoch Bush, Jr., of Dayton, said. “I don’t want to be in that position.”
Ravonda Holliday-Greene, of Dayton, saw the video of the incident and was saddened by what she saw.
“Yes, its heartbreaking,” Holliday-Greene said.
Watson is now facing two counts of aggravated assault and one count of felonious assault. News Center 7 was in court today for her first court appearance Monday where a judge set her bond at $50,000.
Watson is scheduled to appear in court next on July 15.
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