Shooting of Bristol County gas station clerk leads to prison in Fall River for woman with criminal history

A 33-year-old Allston woman who shot an Attleboro gas station clerk during a botched robbery was sentenced late last week in Fall River Superior Court to serve five to seven years in state prison, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn announced.

Ashley Weaver pleaded guilty to indictments charging her with carrying an illegal firearm, armed assault with intent to rob and assault and battery.

On May 20, 2019, at approximately 2:30 a.m., officers from the Attleboro Police Department responded to the Mobil gas station on Newport Avenue for the report of a gunshot.  When officers arrived, the clerk came out of the store and told the police that he had been shot by someone trying to rob him.  The victim lifted his shirt and showed officers that he had a gunshot wound to his stomach.  He told the officers that he was outside of the gas station taking out the trash when what he thought was a young, black male approached him brandishing a gun and demanding money.  The suspect was wearing a gorilla or chimpanzee mask and appeared to have cornrows in his hair. 

The victim did not believe that that the firearm was real and he chased after the suspect and got him in a headlock. The victim then heard a loud bang and felt a pain in his stomach and realized he had been shot.  The suspect ran off and the victim went to hit the panic alarm in the store.  Nothing was taken by the suspect during the incident.  The victim was taken to Rhode Island Hospital where he had surgery and spent several days in recovery.

Several days after the shooting, a tipster called the Attleboro Police and told them that the suspect was actually a female named Ashley Weaver.  Police presented the victim with a photo array of several individuals, one of whom was Ashley Weaver.  The victim immediately identified her as the person who shot him.

Weaver was eventually arrested in Rhode Island, where she violently resisted while in possession of a firearm.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Jason Mohan and the prison sentence was imposed by Judge William White.

“This was a very violent assault in which the defendant shot the clerk during a struggle. The defendant has a history of violence and was a suspect in other similar robbery attempts in Massachusetts.  I am very happy the clerk recovered but this is another example of why you do not take matters into your own hands,” District Attorney Quinn said.