88-Year-Old Liquor Store Owner Who Shot Alleged Thief Says She Has No Regrets – ‘I’m Fed Up’

May Boyce is an 88-year-old liquor store owner from Nashville, Tennessee who has a brutal message for criminals everywhere: “I’m fed up and I’m not taking it anymore.”

Boyce returned to work last weekend after she was charged with aggravated assault for shooting a man who was allegedly trying to steal whiskey from her store. 

Boyce Has No Regrets 

“I did what I had to do, and I hope word gets out on the street that I’m fed up and I’m not taking it anymore,” Boyce told The New York Post. “You’ve got to stick up for yourself sometimes.”

As Boyce worked at her store, which was filled with loyal customers who came in just to support her, she told reporters that she’s been robbed many times over the years.

Unfortunately, the number of robberies has only increased in the past four years, which has left her scared much of the time. 

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When two men walked into Murfreesboro Road Liquor and Wines store on a Tuesday night earlier this month and began taunting her while trying to steal alcohol, Boyce said she had finally had enough.

As one of the men headed to the back of the store where the vodka is located, the second approached her “in a manner that she knew” meant he was about to rob her store.

That’s when Boyce, a widow who stands at 5’3″ and weighs 115 pounds, grabbed her late mother Mary’s .38 Smith & Wesson snub nose revolver and placed it on the counter.

Undeterred by this, one of the men asked where the brown liquor was while the other, who has since been identified as Ramon Fisher, grabbed a couple of Crown Royal whiskey bottles.

When Boyce confronted him, she said he “lunged” at her and pushed her down before making a run for the exit with the whiskey. 

‘I Did What I Had To Do’

“I did what I had to do,” she said. “After you’ve been played for a fool by people stealin’ from you for years, you get fed up. And don’t put me in the category of a little old lady. I know how to take care of myself.”

Boyce opened fire and hit Fisher in the back. He is still recovering from his injuries, and Boyce said afterwards that she wasn’t necessarily intending to hit him. When Fisher fell, he took down a display case of wine with him.

“I never shot a gun before, but I guess it’s something that comes natural,” Boyce said. “I aimed at the floor to scare him.”

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Carson Burch, a friend of Boyce’s took to Facebook to defend her, explaining that she is a sweet woman who has had to wear a wrist brace ever since an incident that occurred two months ago in which her store was robbed.

“She is a sweet old lady who minds her own business. She opens this liquor store up every single day by herself, and she closes it down every night by herself,” Burch wrote. “Now she’s charged with a crime for defending herself? Give me a break.”

Another friend wrote:

Boyce Works Six Days A Week, And She Wants Her Gun Back

Boyce said she had no problem volunteering to go to the police station with officers when they arrived.

“I went down, got my mugshot taken, got out on bond and came right back to the store,” Boyce said. “I got some people to help me but it took us to 1 a.m. to clean up all the wine that spilled everywhere.”

Fisher told officers that night that he was high on cocaine and liquor at the time, and that he did indeed plan to steal from Boyce’s store. However, he then changed his story the next day to claim that he had planned to pay for the liquor after all. 

Boyce has owned the liquor store since 1994, and she continues to work there six days a week with no plans to retire.

“I’m a people person,” she said, “I like to work.”

At this point, Boyce’s main gripe is that police confiscated her gun, telling her that it might take two years for her to get it back.

“I told ’em, s–t, I might be dead by then,” Boyce said. “But the law’s the law.”