A 22-year-old woman who fired multiple shots inside a Pa. Walmart got a big legal break after authorities saw surveillance video of the shooting.
As WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh reports, a charge of attempted homicide against alleged shooter Rojaanai Alston, 22, of Penn Hills, Pa., have been withdrawn by the Allegheny County District Attorney.
That’s because the surveillance video from the North Versailles Walmart clearly shows two other women attacking Alston in the electronics area of the store.
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Check out a clip of the Walmart shooting video embedded in this tweet:
At Thursday’s hearing, Alston’s defense attorney argued passionately that Alston didn’t choose Walmart as the place she would have to defend herself with her legal 9 mm handgun – her attackers did.
“She didn't pick this location, she didn't pick this place and she didn't pick the fight, and she did nothing wrong," Ken Haber, her defense attorney, was quoted by WTAE as saying during Thursday’s preliminary hearing.
"She was cold-cocked in the head, not once, not twice, but at least three times, and then they attempted to drag her to the ground. And if she didn't have a firearm on her to disperse her two assailants, I don't know if my client would even be alive right now," Haber said.
Indeed, the surveillance video, which has been made public, shows two women attacking Alston from behind, starting with punching her in the head. A male companion of Alston tries to break it up, to no avail. Alston shoots at both women, who flee when she pulls the gun, hitting and wounding one of them.
"She was cold-cocked in the head, not once, not twice, but at least three times, and then they attempted to drag her to the ground. And if she didn't have a firearm on her to disperse her two assailants, I don't know if my client would even be alive right now," Haber said.
Despite this, Alston was held for trial on a charge of aggravated assault, WTAE reports, adding:
Alston initially fired five shots. But seconds later, when the woman who threw the first punch comes back in Alston’s direction, Alston fired two more times, shooting that woman in a finger and an upper thigh. All of the women were interviewed by police.
Allegheny County Deputy District Attorney Ilan Zur said the first set of shots were self-defense, but the last two round she fired were not:
"We're not unsympathetic to Miss Alston's situation. She did not ask for this. She was targeted. And when she shot those first five shots, she was acting in self defense. But after that, when both of the attackers dispersed and were running away, it was no longer in that realm and she was now tracking them," Zur was quoted by WTAE as saying.
Now a jury will make the ultimate call in the case.
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Rojaanai Alston, 22