Pharmacy shop assistant in Oklahoma shot & kills 1 of 2 would-be robbers

[kellyhound]

Last May, a pharmacy shop assistant in Oklahoma shot and killed one of the two would-be robbers that held him up.

But shopkeeper Jerome Ersland was not treated as a victim. He was charged with first-degree murder in the case.

After his initial shot, Ersland chased after a second crook and then returned to the store and fired several more shots into the first man, leading prosecutors to consider it murder.

[TaintSniffer]

Good post. Violence met with violence..i'd do the same. It's good actually that no one worth anything is dead...the others Who cares

[vioman]

Wait - the video does not match the description?

[secret_squirrel]

Not the right story or wrong vid. This is the guy who went back and shot the guy inside the store who was wounded and no threat after the first shot he took so he got charged with manslaughter or murder.

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by vioman

Wait - the video does not match the description?

Originally Posted by secret_squirrel

Not the right story or wrong vid. This is the guy who went back and shot the guy inside the store who was wounded and no threat after the first shot he took so he got charged with manslaughter or murder.

Correct, i changed the story

[secret_squirrel]

[CrashTest]

I believe the pharmacist is facing some type of murder charge.Or they were thinking about charging the pharmacist or something

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by CrashTest

I believe the pharmacist is facing some type of murder charge.Or they were thinking about charging the pharmacist or something

The military background of a pharmacist accused of shooting and killing a teenager who tried to rob him is being questioned.

The 57-year-old veteran made national news after he shot and killed a 16-year-old would-be robber inside an Oklahoma City pharmacy. The district attorney charged pharmacist Jerome Ersland with murder, saying he went too far by shooting the teen several more times after he was already down.

"There are limitations to a person's ability to defend themselves, and that limitation comes when the imminent threat is over," said Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater.

After the shooting, Ersland told police and reporters that he was a veteran of the first Gulf War and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

But Ersland's military records released to the Oklahoma County District Attorney's office dispute that. The records show Ersland being at Altus Air Force Base.

"What he did in the past...if he says he was the last king of Scotland, what difference does that make?" said Ersland's attorney Irven Box.

The district attorney disagrees. Prater said everyone's background is being looked at in this case, and that includes Jerome Ersland.

"Justice is done so many times involves looking into the perpetrators background and determining why an event may have occurred and seeing if that mitigates the situation at all," Prater said.

But Ersland's attorney said the only thing that should matter now is what happened inside the pharmacy.

"Forty-six seconds, it's on video. It happened. Armed masked men came in....your money or your life, Mr. Ersland reacted. What he might have done five-years-ago, 10-years-ago or 20-years-ago, I don't believe has any particular relevance to this particular crime that he was a victim of," Box said.

Ersland is out of jail on $100,000 bond, and has since returned to work at that same pharmacy. He's not allowed to have access to guns, knives or other weapons.

A pharmacist’s explanation of what happened May 19, when he fatally shot a masked robber, keeps changing.

Jerome Jay Ersland has given three versions so far, The Oklahoman found in a review of his statements to news reporters and to law enforcement.

The latest came in a letter last month to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

"I was under so much stress,” he told The Oklahoman in a July interview.

"It had just been so rough ... that I couldn’t remember exactly what had happened until later. And, then, it gradually comes back to you over the days and weeks.”

The shooting sparked a national debate in May when Ersland was charged with first-degree murder.

Prosecutors allege he went too far, shooting the unarmed robber five more times after knocking the robber unconscious with a shot to the head.

Ersland, 57, of Chickasha denies wrongdoing. He has been described as a hero by some for his actions at the Reliable Discount Pharmacy in south Oklahoma City. Killed was Antwun "Speedy” Parker, 16, of Oklahoma City.

Ersland insists the injured robber was awake and still had a gun after being hit in the head.

He said he shot Parker again to protect himself and two female employees.

He has said he thought Parker had already shot him in the wrist.

But he has given different accounts of what Parker did after being shot in the head and of when he shot Parker the second time.


First account
A police report shows he told a detective May 19 that he shot Parker again before chasing a second robber out of the store.

"Ersland said he ran by the one he shot ... and that he ... was ‘still up there and wanting to hit me,’” according to the police detective’s report on the interview.

"Ersland ... said, ‘I unloaded on him’ and he ... went down. He then chased the other subject ... out of the store.”

"He just kept staying up,” he is quoted as telling the police detective about why he shot Parker again. The detective said the pharmacist referred to Parker as "the guy I nailed.”


Second account
Ersland’s account changed after prosecutors publicly released a security surveillance video that shows the pharmacist shot Parker again after chasing away the other robber.

Ersland said in a nationally televised interview on Fox News that he shot "the guy laying down” again after coming back in the store. "I went up to him and he seemed to be just dazed,” Ersland told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly on June 1.

"And he started talking to me and he started turning to the right. ... I’m crippled. And I knew ... when he got up, if he was just dazed, that he could kill me. ... I thought I was going to get killed in the next few seconds. ... I still think he had a gun.”


Latest account
In the July 8 letter to the OSBI, Ersland wrote that he shot Parker again after Parker cursed him and tried to get up by grabbing a bookcase.

He wrote that he had just run back into the pharmacy after trading shots with the other robber outside. He wrote that a guy in a green car said, "He’s getting up!”

"As the robber in the corner began to climb up the bookcase with his right hand, he yelled, ‘---- you,’ and slipped on the floor, so I saw my chance to end the threat and went for the back-up gun and shot him just as he slid down on the slippery surface,” he wrote to the OSBI. "I was experiencing a tremendous amount of adrenaline.”

Prosecutors say they have a medical opinion and crime-scene evidence that will prove Parker never regained consciousness after the head shot.

The state’s chief medical examiner has said Parker suffered a brain injury from the head shot but would have survived.

The five final shots were to the chest and abdomen. The video does not show Parker after he was knocked down.

Early in the case, prosecutors and police pointed out that the video contradicts what Ersland at first said to police officers and news reporters.

Most significantly, officials contend, the video and physical evidence prove that there was no shoot-out inside the store, that the pharmacist was the only one who fired.

Officials also say the video shows that only one robber had a gun, that Parker was unarmed.

The video shows Parker putting on and adjusting his mask when he gets shot the first time.

Ersland told police both robbers were shooting at him inside the store.

He said they were armed with cheap black imported revolvers.

The video also contradicts Ersland’s claim to police and to a KFOR-4 television reporter that he had a gun in each hand as he fired at the robbers.

In May, Ersland told "They were shooting at me from both sides so I shot at them from both sides as well. I don’t see any problem with telling the truth.”

The video shows Ersland never held the two guns at the same time.

Ersland acknowledged in the interview with The Oklahoman that some things he told police the night of the shooting were wrong, but he said it was not intentional.

He said stress and adrenaline "made my memory cloudy for a while.” He said, "That night, I did give some inaccurate information but, at the time, I thought it was the truth.”

Prosecutors have identified a teenager and two men with prison records as accomplices in the robbery.

The three, Jevontia Ingram, 14, Emanuel D. Mitchell, 31, and Anthony D. Morrison, 43, also are charged with first-degree murder.

[WHITEWIDOW]

If he would'nt have came back and reloaded his gun and shot the kid 3 more times he would'nt be looking at a murder charge. This happened about 15 miles north of where I stay.

[Faline]

He was sentenced in July 2011:

An Oklahoma City pharmacist was sentenced to life in prison for killing an armed robber. Just hours later, the dead man's two accomplices were also given life terms for taking part in an armed robbery that resulted in a murder.

An attorney for Jerome Ersland, the pharmacist who was given the controversial prison sentence, said today he is filing an appeal of his conviction and sentence.



The two men who allegedly masterminded the attempted robbery of the pharmacy, Anthony Morrison and Emanuel Mitchell, were convicted of with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit an armed robbery and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, according to ABC News' Oklahoma City affiliate KOCO.com.

Under Oklahoma state law, if a murder occurs during an armed robbery, those who took part in the robbery can be prosecuted for murder.

All three were sentenced Monday in separate procedings.

Ersland was silent as the sentence was handed down, according to KOCO.com. As he was escorted out of the courtroom in his black-and-white striped jail uniform, he shouted, "It's an injustice of a monumental proportion!"

His attorney, Irven Box, agreed. "I thought that he should've been walked out of that courtroom a free man. Jerome, you did what you had to do under the circumstances," Box said, according to KOCO.com. "We strongly believe that we didn't play on a level playing field."

Pharmacist Who Killed Robber To Appeal Life Sentence

The attempted robbery took place in May 2009 at the Discount Reliable Pharmacy.

A dramatic surveillance video shows Antwun Parker running into the pharmacy with one of his two accomplices and pointing a gun at Ersland.

Ersland, 59, then shot Parker in the head with a pistol, knocking him unconscious. After chasing the other two men out of the store, Ersland shot Parker five more times with a different gun.

The Medical Examiner's office said that it was these five shots into the unconscious teenager's abdomen that killed him.

Box told ABC News that his client saw Parker still moving and believed he was still a threat.

Prosecutors argued that the first shot could be categorized as self-defense, but that the subsequent five shots turned the situation into first-degree murder.

Prosecutors argued that the first shot could be categorized as self-defense, but that the subsequent five shots turned the situation into first-degree murder.

On May 26, a jury convicted Ersland of first-degree murder and recommended life in prison with the possibility of parole. Oklahoma County District Judge Ray Elliott handed down this sentence Monday, upholding the jury's suggestion.

The controversial case has ignited many debates about the line between self-defense and murder and since the May 26 verdict, Ersland has been portrayed as both a hero and as a murderer.

There has been an outpouring of support for Ersland, including Oklahoma State Sen. Ralph Shortey (R). "I'm going to spend the rest of my career, however long it may be, trying to right this wrong," Shortey told ABC News.

Ersland's family and friends got 17,000 people to sign a petition on his behalf leading up to the sentencing. There are nine Facebook groups dedicated to freeing Jerome Ersland.

Ersland will not be eligible for parole for 38 years.