A man reportedly trying to shoplift camping supplies and clothes from a Cleveland Mall store was fatally shot Monday and a store employee now faces a first-degree murder charge.
“How did we go from shoplifting to homicide?” Shelby Police Chief Jeff Ledford wondered aloud. “I’m not sure. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered to understand that.”
While the investigation continues, Ledford said Jacob Wesley Isenhour, who worked for Dunham s Sports, would not be in Cleveland County Jail facing a murder charge if he had picked up a phone and called police rather than take off after shoplifting suspect Bryan Allen Francis with a gun.
One person is dead and another in jail following a shooting near the Hampton Inn and Suites in Shelby Monday afternoon.
Jacob Wesley Isenhour, of Grover, has been charged with first-degree murder, carrying a concealed weapon and discharging a firearm inside city limits.
According to the Shelby Police Department, Bryan Allen Francis, of West Virginia, was leaving the Cleveland Mall via Dunham s Sports around 1 p.m. when the store security alarm sounded.
Isenhour, an employee of the sports shop who was working at the time, allegedly chased the person through the mall parking lot in an attempt to confront them.