TEXARKANA, Texas–A man accused of fatally shooting an employee of a Family Dollar Store in Maud, Texas, earlier this month was a regular customer recognized immediately by store staff, despite his attempt to conceal his identity with a mask, according to court records filed Tuesday.
Keshawn Deiron Wickware, 27, allegedly shot the employee in the face after pointing a gun at her and demanding she open the register, according to a probable cause affidavit. Another employee on site allegedly told officers that she believes Wickware pulled the trigger, shooting 47-year-old Denyle Pierce in the head, “because she was unable to open the cash register quickly.”
Wickware was reportedly a regular customer who sometimes stopped in the store multiple times a day, according to the affidavit. When Wickware walked into the shop at 424 Broadway St. in Maud shortly before 8 p.m. on March 4, Pierce reportedly joked with Wickware, asking him “if he was cold” because of the mask he was wearing.
Wickware allegedly ignored the joke, approached the counter and asked for some Black and Mild cigars before pulling a black and silver handgun from his pocket and pointing it at Pierce.
After fatally shooting Pierce, Wickware allegedly left empty-handed and fired several shots upward into the air outside the front door before making a getaway in a burnt orange SUV, turning onto Highway 8 in the direction of Cass County.
As Wickware was well known to the store’s management and employees, they were able to provide police with surveillance video from a few days before that showed Wickware allegedly wearing the same jacket with a distinctive insignia, the same jogger-style pants and the same tan-colored slide sandals as he had worn during the shooting. While the employees knew Wickware by sight, they were unable to provide investigators with his name.
A local citizen near the scene told officers that the description of the man and vehicle they were looking for sounded like a person she knew who lived less than a mile away in apartments in the 300 block of Ash Street. Officers traveled to the apartments and located a 2024 burnt orange Buick Encore parked outside.
Wickware was quickly apprehended from a unit at the apartments. He was allegedly wearing the same jogger-style pants and slide sandals as in the recording of the fatal shooting and a jacket with the same distinctive insignia was allegedly recovered from his apartment.
Investigators also recovered a black and silver Taurus 9 mm handgun from the residence.
People who were inside the apartment where Wickware was apprehended reportedly told investigators that Wickware had left for a short time and that when he returned, he told them, “I shot a lady,” the affidavit said.
Wickware is currently being held in the Bowie County jail with bail set at $1.5 million.
Capital murder is the most serious crime on the books in Texas. If convicted, Wickware faces a possible sentence of death by lethal injection or life without the possibility of parole.
The case has been assigned to 5th District Judge Bill Miller. Court records show that Judge Miller has appointed Texarkana lawyer Jeff Harrelson to represent Wickware.
