Two on-duty officers. Not on a call. Going to buy something.
They walk up to the door and a robbery is already in progress inside.
What happens next is a textbook example of officers doing almost everything right under conditions nobody trains for enough — the unplanned, unannounced critical incident that lands in your lap out of nowhere.
Let’s walk through it.
What Happened
Buffalo. April 15. Just before 8:45 p.m. Officers Pascucci and Dilek roll up to a 7-Eleven on Prospect Avenue as customers. Through the window, they clock an armed robbery in progress.
The suspect — Dejuan Williams, 42, a parolee — already has his gun out. He shoots the store clerk in the leg.
The officers do not push through the door. They fall back into defensive positions. Get out of the fatal funnel. That is the right call. You don’t know the layout inside. You don’t know if there are more suspects. You don’t stack into a doorway with a man holding a gun on the other side of it.
Williams figures out the cops are there. He ditches the robbery, moves for the door, peers out — and fires at Officer Pascucci.
Then he runs.
The Shooting
Officer Dilek is positioned to the left of the door. Williams runs past Pascucci, pointing the weapon at her as he goes.
Dilek fires two rounds.
One round hits the gun. One round hits Williams in the arm.
He keeps running, carjacks a vehicle, drives a few blocks north, and crashes into three parked cars. Officers surround him. He’s taken into custody.
Williams is charged with Attempted Murder in the First Degree — twice — plus Attempted Robbery, Criminal Possession of a Weapon, and two counts of Attempted Assault.
The clerk was treated and released.
What They Got Right
The positioning. The moment these officers understood what was happening, they moved. They didn’t freeze at the door. They got out of the fatal funnel and into cover. That’s trained behavior executing under pressure. Dilek’s body cam shows it clearly.
The restraint. They didn’t rush the door while an armed man was robbing the store. They held. That takes discipline.
The shots. Two rounds. One in the arm, one in the gun. At close range, moving target, adrenaline dump — that’s effective fire.
One Criticism
I don’t give free passes when something’s worth noting.
Pascucci’s positioning — standing out in the parking lot, not thinking cover and concealment. That’s who Williams took the shot at. He was exposed.
Minor point in an otherwise well-handled incident. But if you’re in a parking lot with an armed robbery going down on the other side of glass, you press to something solid. Every time.
The Parole Problem
Dejuan Williams was on parole since May 2024. He did time for armed robbery starting in 2011. He got out, and within a year he was back in a store with a gun pointed at a clerk.
The record speaks for itself.
What I will say: every time you walk into a 7-Eleven, a gas station, a liquor store — you can be a target. Stay aware. Know your exits. Know who’s in the room.
Bottom Line
Justified shooting. The officers were fired upon. Williams shot a civilian. He pointed a weapon at a police officer while fleeing. Dilek’s use of force was lawful, proportionate, and effective.
Two relatively new officers — Pascucci on the job since 2022, Dilek less than two years in — handled an unplanned critical incident about as well as it could be handled.
Stay safe out there.
