My name is Stephanie Dilyard, I am 25 years old, a mom to 1 toddler and bonus mom to 2 teens. On Friday morning, I was attacked at my job, 7Eleven. I refused to accept a counterfeit bill, which the man then threatened to k!ll me and came behind the counter, choked me, and slam me against the sandwich case. I pulled out my firearm and sh0t him in the stomach. Police say it’s self defense and I went home, only to get a call Monday morning from 7Eleven HR saying I was fired for violating policy.

For over 2 years I worked overnight from 11pm-7am with the same company, at the same location, but my days didn’t end then, I would come home and be with our 3 year old while my boyfriend works blue-collar. I would get an average of 3 hours of sleep everyday. However long the toddler napped and 2 hours when my boyfriend gets off work.

As many already know, us overnight clerks are by ourselves. We have no security, and we are not allowed to carry self defense weapons, including mase. However, working conditions, it was not realistic for me to be able to follow policy AND be able to go home to my kids if a situation happened. That’s is why I decided to carry in the first place.

I never expected for me to be in this situation, but I did what I had to do to go home to my kids. I was a good employee, committed and determined, but in-between a rock and a hard place I had to make a quick decision—lose my life, or lose my job.

If you can, anything helps my family and I while I take time to recover and look for another job. Whole reason I was working overnight in the first place was to save to buy a home and get out of the city, and now I want that more than ever.