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Woman pulls out gun in Walmart during row over last notebook

Police say the four women were arguing over who got the only remaining item in a back-to-school sale

Caroline Mortimer
Friday 08 September 2017 13:17 BST
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Woman pulls out gun in Walmart during row over last notebook

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A woman is facing criminal charges after pulling a gun on two other women in a row over a school notebook.

The argument, captured on video filmed by a bystander, broke out between two pairs of women over the last notebook at a 'Back to School' sale at the Walmart in Novi, a city near Detroit, in Michigan.

The fight between the women – two aged 46 and 32 and a mother and daughter aged 51 and 20 – reportedly began when the 20-year-old reached for the last notebook on the shelf at the same time as one of the other two women.

The argument then escalated as the first two women started pulling the younger girl’s hair. Her mother then pulled out a gun to protect her daughter, local police said.

Local police officer Detective Scott Baetens told Fox News Detroit: "One girl was going to buy a notebook. There was one left, some pushing resulted.

"They began to argue who was the rightful purchaser of that notebook.

"She pulled out her firearm and tells them to stop attacking her daughter while pointing the gun at them."

Other customers then began to flee and police were called.

Police are now appealing for witnesses to the “senseless act of violence” and all four women are facing charge.

Prosecutors are still trying to determine whether the woman who pulled the gun, who is a licensed gun owner, was truly acting in self defence to determine what charges to press.

Det Baetens said: “A simple assault could be just a local ordinance, a 90-day misdemeanor.

“All the way up to felonious assault with a firearm, which is a felony.”

He said the gun was loaded but that there was no round in the chamber and no one was hurt.

It is unclear who got the notebook.

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