TEXAS – Wal-Mart security guard, Louis Campbell, shot and killed suspected shoplifter and mother of two, Shelly Frey, 27, in the parking lot of a Houston Wal-Mart in front of her two children as she attempted to leave the premises.

Campbell, an off-duty Harris County Sheriff’s deputy, was alerted by in-store security that Frey, Tisa Andrews and Yolanda Craig  had been observed hiding items in their purses. When the 26-year veteran confronted the trio, they ran for their car in the parking lot where two small children awaited their return.

The women entered the vehicle, but Campbell did not give up the chase. He opened the door and commanded that they exit, at which point the driver of the car accelerated and attempted to drive off.

“I think it knocked him off balance and, in fear of his life and being ran over, he discharged his weapon at that point,’ said Thomas Gilliland, Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

The women continued to drive despite Frey being injured and didn’t stop until they made it to a nearby apartment building. Paramedics from the Houston Fire Department were called and Frey was pronounced dead on the scene.