Councilwoman fires gun during melee in Walmart parking lot, Mississippi video shows
A 22-second video circulating on social media over the weekend showed a woman shooting a gun in the parking lot of a local Walmart as she yelled “you’re going to jail.”
Police say it was a town councilwoman in Mississippi who fired the weapon.
Pauline Monley was charged with domestic violence, simple assault and discharging a firearm within city limits after the incident at a Walmart in McComb, Mississippi, the Clarion Ledger reported. Monley is on the town council in Summit — just north of McComb, according to the town’s website.
She reportedly turned herself in Monday.
“At the end of the day, no matter what happened or what transpired prior to the incident, there was no need for you to fire a weapon at the parking lot of Walmart on one of the busiest days of the year,” McComb Police Chief Garland Ward told WLBT.
Video posted to Facebook on Saturday and shared nearly 2,000 times captured the bedlam. It shows a person wearing a pink shirt and khaki shorts who appears to be Monley run on screen with a gun raised. The feet of a second person are seen running off screen in front of her.
“You’re going to jail,” Monley is heard yelling in the video as she fires the gun in the direction of the store.
A single shot rings out before Monley turns around and approaches another woman standing in front of her shopping cart. Monley again raises the gun and then starts hitting the woman, the video shows.
Monley told WJTV after she was released from jail that the short clip doesn’t show what happened before and that she was acting in self defense.
“She hit me across my head. As she hit me, I stumbled. My glasses fell on the ground. I picked them up, and as she was still coming at me, I grabbed my gun. It was all in self-defense on my part,” Monley said, according to the TV station.
WLBT identified the woman Monley was allegedly shooting at as Lillian Martin, who is reportedly engaged to Monley’s ex-girlfriend. Martin told WLBT the fight broke out when “Monley allegedly attacked the other woman and she stepped in.”
“That’s when she reached in her pocket and pulled out a gun and all I heard was someone say, ‘She’s got a gun!’ and I started running,” Martin said, according to the TV station. “And as I started running I heard one shot and after that she turned around and pointed a gun at my fiancée and started beating her up from behind.”
Percy Robinson, the mayor of Summit, told WJTV “Monley has done a good job” as city councilwoman.
“Right now, I’ve talked to my board attorney this morning, and we will see what the ethics commission thinks needs to be done,” he said.
This story was originally published December 1, 2020 at 12:48 PM with the headline "Councilwoman fires gun during melee in Walmart parking lot, Mississippi video shows."
