Travonsha L. Ferguson was 24 years old and seven months pregnant in April 2023 when a Walgreens team leader who thought she was shoplifting followed her to her car and shot her several times, according to a lawsuit obtained by HuffPost.
In the civil lawsuit that the Tennessee mother filed against the pharmacy chain, she claims that she and a friend were followed from a Nashville drugstore by Mitarius Boyd, 21, an employee team leader who suspected them of shoplifting.
Lawyers for Ferguson claim that Walgreen Co. and an anonymous manager were negligent in “failing to properly train and supervise Boyd.” Boyd, however, is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
According to a statement by the Metropolitan Nashville Police following the incident, Boyd was notified by another employee that two women were stealing items from the store.
Boyd told detectives that he began to follow and record the women after he allegedly saw them place items into a cart and then into a bag, according to the statement.
Ferguson’s attorneys are claiming that Boyd had never identified himself as a Walgreens employee before “aggressively” confronting their client and her friend about alleged stolen items.
Once Ferguson and her friend got to their car, she sprayed Mace in Boyd’s direction out of fear, according to the document, and that prompted Boyd to shoot Ferguson about seven times.
Boyd told detectives that he didn’t know if the women were armed and that he, too, was in fear, according to a news release. Ferguson’s friend drove away, and Boyd went back into the store to call 911.
No criminal charges were filed against Boyd, who no longer works the store, WSMV-TV in Nashville reported.
According to the news release, Ferguson’s friend took her to a hospital, where Ferguson was initially listed in critical but stable condition. Ferguson’s baby was delivered prematurely by C-section and had a heart defect. The infant “fought for his life for weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit,” according to the lawsuit.
The baby is now reportedly at increased risk of long-term intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The attorneys also alleged that as a result of the shooting, Ferguson sustained permanent injuries that require her to wear colostomy bag “to survive.”
Ferguson’s attorney’s are asking the company to pay for damages based on her physical pain, mental anguish and emotional distress.
In a statement shared with HuffPost on Wednesday, L. Chris Stewart, an attorney representing Ferguson, said the defendant “will never fully recover from this shooting and has long-term health issues that she is forced to deal with every day.”
“We intend to hold Walgreens accountable for the egregious actions of their employee who was a team leader at that location,” Stewart said. “Following someone to the parking lot and shooting them seven times for allegedly shoplifting is outrageous conduct that cannot be tolerated by corporations around the country.”
Walgreen Co. has declined to comment on the litigation.
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