88-year-old liquor store owner shot alleged shoplifter as she was ‘fed up’ of being robbed

Octogenarian says that she was ‘not taking it anymore’ after previous theft

An 88-year-old liquor store owner who shot an alleged shoplifter has said that she was “fed up” with being robbed and was “not taking it anymore.”

The octogenarian store owner, May Boyce, says she “did what I had to do” when two men entered her store in Nashville, Tennessee, on Tuesday with an alleged intention to loot.

“I did what I had to do, and I hope word gets out on the street that I’m fed up and I’m not taking it anymore,” she told The New York Post on Saturday. “You’ve got to stick up for yourself sometimes.”

Ms Boyce, who returned to the store this weekend, was released on a $10,000 bond on Friday with an aggravated assault charge, Nashville police said.

She told investigators last week that two men entered her store with the intention to menace and steal some alcohol, said the affidavit obtained by McClatchy News.

The main suspect, who walked behind Ms Boyce’s counter where the vodka was located, then approached the 88-year-old with “a manner that she knew”, said the affidavit.

She then grabbed her late mother Mary’s .38 Smith & Wesson snub nose revolver, said police, and placed it on the counter.

When the men tried to leave the store with bottles under their arms, Ms Boyce says she shot in their direction despite having never shot a gun before.

“I guess it’s something that comes natural. I aimed at the floor to scare him,” she told The Post. “I did what I had to do,”

“After you’ve been played for a fool by people stealin’ from you for years, you get fed up.” she added. “And don’t put me in the category of a little old lady. I know how to take care of myself.”

The affidavit said the suspect who was shot retracted an earlier statement made to police whilst in hospital in which he admitted he had intended to steal liquor on Tuesday.

Ms Boyce, who works six days a week at the liquor store she’s owned since 1994, added that she was a “people person” who “like[s] to work.”

Nashville police have said that she will need to wait two years to see the gun again, to which she said: “I might be dead by then, but the law’s the law.”