A routine morning check at a Florida storage facility ended with an employee shot in the face, and investigators say the dispute started over a unit being used as a place to sleep. Kandice Jo Pierce, 40, has been charged with attempted murder in connection with the shooting in Palm Bay, according to Law&Crime.
The shooting happened around 10 a.m. Saturday at a storage facility on Babcock Street, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office said. Investigators say the employee was doing her morning rounds when she spotted two people who appeared to be living inside one of the units. The worker told them they were not allowed to live or sleep there, as doing so violated the lease agreement.
Pierce told the employee she was the one who rented the unit and that they should be allowed to stay, investigators said. The employee then offered not to report the pair to management if they left, and she began to walk away. According to deputies, the suspect called her back, and the worker heard a loud bang before feeling pain in her face.
Deputies say the other person in the storage unit was the suspect’s 16-year-old daughter
After the shot, the employee ran and hid under a desk, where she called 911 for help. Deputies say she had a small entry wound below her eye, and the bullet remained lodged in her face. Investigators later found two spent shell casings near the storage unit, and Pierce was identified as the suspect, as her name was on the lease.
A detective from a nearby agency who had tried to help Pierce with housing about a month earlier told investigators that the other person in the unit was her 16-year-old daughter. Deputies found the teen at a nearby gas station. According to investigators, the girl said her mother was upset about being kicked out of the storage unit, so she fired at the employee twice…