How many stories have you read recently where a shoplifter at a Wal-Mart winds up dead at the hands of store security? I have seen more than one in the past six months and now another.

Shoplifting is wrong and violators should be punished. Yet you do not expect a simple shoplifting experience to result in death. As reported in jezebel.com.

We all know someone who has given themselves a “5-finger discount” at one point in their lives. In fact, most of us probably have swindled something in our lifetimes. You never expect to be killed by store security guards for trying to steal a few retail items.

This is no defense of shoplifting, but what happened to Shelly Frey, a black 27-year-old mother of two, is tragic. Frey was recently shot and killed on suspicion of shoplifting from a Houston Wal-Mart.

It all started when an off-duty police officer, who was working his extra job as a Wal-Mart security guard, confronted Frey and her two friends at the store's exit. One of the women hit him with her purse and ran. The security guard chased them into the parking lot and held their car door open to stop them from leaving, but the driver sped off, at which point Campbell fired at the car, striking Shelly Frey in the neck. She died.

No pun intended, but don’t you think the security guard’s use of a loaded weapon was over-kill? How could a few stolen items be worth killing over? Can you believe that police are pinning the blame on the victim? Come, on – talk about police brutality!

It is even more tragic as Frey’s two children were in the car with her when she was killed. What Frey and her friends did was wrong. But it should have never ended like this.