A 7-Eleven clerk in Oklahoma who shot an attacker choking her and threatening to kill her in a dispute over counterfeit cash has now found herself out of a job, as the convenience store fired her.

The mayhem erupted Thursday night in Oklahoma City, where Stephanie Dilyard, 25, got into a confrontation with 59-year-old Kenneth Thompson, who allegedly sought to pay with a fake $100 bill.

"He threatened me, and said he was gonna slice my head off, and that's when I tried to call the police," Dillard told KOKH-TV.

"He started throwing things at me, came behind the counter. I tried to run off, but he grabbed his hands around my neck, and pushed me out of the counter space, that's when I pulled out my gun and I shot him."

Thompson, who was struck by the bullet in his stomach, fled the scene and was later arrested after he called 9-1-1. He was charged with assault and battery, threatening acts of violence, attempting to pass a fake bill and a felony warrant for violating parole.

Police cleared Dilyard of any wrongdoing thanks to Oklahoma's "Stand Your Ground" law protecting individuals who use force in self-defense.

The saga took a dark turn when 7-Eleven terminated the clerk on Monday for using her own gun.

"They said that they were going to separate from employment because of a violation of policy," said Dilyard, who worked the overnight shift alone for more than two years.

"This was a situation where I felt like I was put into a corner between choosing between my job and my life, and I'm always going to choose my life because there's people that depend on me. Just, I'm going, I'm going home, you know. I need to be here for my kids."

"If I'd known that there's a potential that somebody could be for real in taking my life away that I will do whatever it takes. I hope that women see that, and they'll do the same thing. You have the right to defend yourself."

7-Eleven has yet to provide comment on the incident.

A GoFundMe page has now been set up for Dilyard, as she went into further detail about her plight.

"As many already know, us overnight clerks are by ourselves. We have no security, and we are not allowed to carry self defense weapons, including mace," she explained.

"However, working conditions, it was not realistic for me to be able to follow policy AND be able to go home to my kids if a situation happened. That's is why I decided to carry in the first place.

"I never expected for me to be in this situation, but I did what I had to do to go home to my kids. I was a good employee, committed and determined, but in-between a rock and a hard place I had to make a quick decision – lose my life, or lose my job.

"If you can, anything helps my family and I while I take time to recover and look for another job. Whole reason I was working overnight in the first place was to save to buy a home and get out of the city, and now I want that more than ever. "

Some online comments include:

"7-Eleven has a corporate policy prohibiting weapons of any kind. The policy applies to corporate stores and Franchisees. It is a sh*tty policy, but the Franchisees have to live with it. Employees can get another job, if the Franchisee looses the franchise, they have lost their livelihood."

"Sadly, this kind of thing is not uncommon. A far better response from 7-11 would have been: 'In light of this incident, we have reviewed our corporate policies & have decided to encourage employees to lawfully protect themselves. Employee & customer safety is our top priority.'"

"I'm sure they would have paid for her funeral had she followed the employee handbook."

"7/11 wants their employees to let themselves be killed rather than defend themselves. Wtf @7eleven?! Give her her job back!!!"