Employee Indicted in Shooting Death Of Suspected Shoplifter Last Summer

Jan. 28, 2022 – An employee at a South Memphis discount store has been indicted on murder charges after following a suspected shoplifter out of the store last summer and shooting him in the parking lot, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

    A grand jury Thursday indicted Ashley Croom, 32, on a count of second-degree murder. She is being held on $250,000 bond.

  The incident happened shortly before 5 p.m. on July 22, 2021, at the Dollar Tree store in the 1800 block of South Third Street.

   Investigators said Croom followed 27-year-old Dewaynne Reed out of the store and confronted him in the parking lot about items he had taken without paying. She pulled a handgun, shot him twice, and took the merchandise back into the store.

    The case is being handled by Felony Asst. Ryan Thompson of the District Attorney’s Vertical Team 2 which prosecutes cases in General Sessions Division 9 (Mental Health Court) and in Criminal Court Division 2.