Druggist Jerome Ersland says he feared for life during shooting

A pharmacist charged with first-degree murder said Monday he shot a robber again on the city drugstore’s floor because he thought the robber was about to get up and kill him.

He said he thought the robber, Antwun "Speedy” Parker, 16, had shot him and killed a female employee when the holdup began.

He said he wanted to protect himself and the other female employee crying in the back.

"I went up to him. And he seemed to be just dazed. And he started talking to me, and he started turning to the right,” he said in an interview with Bill O’Reilly on Fox News’ "The O’Reilly Factor.” "I’m crippled. ... I thought I was going to get killed in the next few seconds.”

He said the two employees were a mother and daughter. "The mother was yelling, ‘Megan, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,’” he said.

Jerome Jay Ersland, 57, is accused in the first-degree murder case of going too far in defending himself May 19 during the robbery at Reliable Discount Pharmacy in south Oklahoma City.

Prosecutors allege physical evidence proves Parker was unarmed, unconscious and on his back when the pharmacist shot him five times in the abdomen. They allege Parker already was incapacitated because Ersland had shot him in the head.

Attorney says guns have been turned over

The interview Monday was Ersland’s first to the media since he was charged Wednesday.

"I still think he had a gun,” Ersland said Monday. "Because he was closer to me, and I felt a sting on my hand and my watch fell off. I had a shot in my hand, and I thought it came from that side and that was the side that the girls were on and I thought ... that he shot Megan.”

Prosecutors contend only Ersland fired any shots during the holdup.

A police detective said Ersland gave statements to the media earlier and to police that do not match a drugstore video depiction of the shooting.

Ersland is free on $100,000 bail.

Oklahoma County District Judge Tammy Bass-LeSure on Thursday allowed him to be released from jail on bail as long he no longer has any access to any weapons.

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