Dollar General Manager Fatally Shot by Customer Over Hamburger Buns

A Dollar General store manager was fatally shot by a customer who came in to buy hamburger buns for $1.58, authorities said.

Alexis Hill, a 44-year-old mother of three boys, was shot and killed at a Dollar General store on Victory Drive in Columbus, Georgia, about 100 miles southwest of Atlanta, around 11 a.m. Tuesday, WTVM reported.

Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan said a man came into the store to buy the buns and gave Hill two crumpled $1 bills. As Hill straightened out the cash, the customer stepped to the side, pulled out a gun and shot her, Bryan said.

The gunman, identified as 33-year-old Jerome Willis, ran from the store but was stopped by police less than two miles away near Baker Plaza Drive after he shot a Columbus police officer and his K-9, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said. An officer was injured in that shooting.

Authorities have not shared a motive for the shooting. The Independent has contacted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for more information.

A friend of Hill’s remembered her as “sweet” and “positive,” telling WTVM, “She’d make you laugh. She loved that job, and she worked her entire butt off for that job.”

In a public statement, Hill’s brother said the family was mourning the sudden death of a “beloved sister,” and that the family was asking for privacy during this painful period.

Meanwhile, the officer injured in the second shooting with Willis was treated and is expected to make a full physical recovery, the Columbus Police Department wrote on Facebook. The K-9, Havoc, is in stable condition but will require surgery. The police department noted on the post that “his handler has been by his side every step of the way.”

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the police shooting. Authorities have not shared any further information about Willis.