OKLAHOMA CITY — Confronted by two holdup men, pharmacist Jerome Ersland pulled a gun, shot one of them in the head and chased the other away. Then, in a scene recorded by the drugstore’s security camera, he went behind the counter, got another gun and pumped five more bullets into the wounded teenager on the floor.
Now Ersland has been charged with first-degree murder in a case that has stirred a furious debate over vigilante justice and self-defense and turned the pharmacist into something of a folk hero.
Ersland, 57, is free on $100,000 bail thanks to an anonymous donor. He has won praise from the pharmacy’s owner, received an outpouring of cards, letters and checks from supporters and become the darling of conservative talk radio.
“His adrenaline was going. You’re just thinking of survival,” said John Paul Hernandez, 60, a retired Defense Department employee who grew up in the neighborhood. “All it was is defending your employee, business and livelihood. If I was in that position and that was me, I probably would have done the same thing.”
District Attorney David Prater said Ersland was justified in shooting 16-year-old Antwun Parker once in the head, but not in firing the additional shots into his belly.
The prosecutor said the teenager was unconscious, unarmed, lying on his back and posing no threat when Ersland fired what the medical examiner said were the fatal shots.
The second suspect in the holdup, a 14-year-old boy, was arrested Thursday and faces attempted armed robbery charges.
Under Oklahoma’s “make my day” law, people can use deadly force when they feel threatened by an intruder inside their homes. In 2006, Oklahoma’s “stand your ground” law extended that to anywhere a citizen has the right to be, such as a car or office.
