Police said a line dispute at a Sunrise store turned physical as a security guard tried to break it up.
SUNRISE, Fla. — A 34-year-old woman faces a felony charge after police said she pushed, punched and kicked a 79-year-old shopper during an argument in a Walmart customer service line, then later told officers she thought the older woman “deserved it.”
The case drew fresh attention this week after local television station WPLG aired body camera video from the aftermath of the Jan. 23 confrontation at the Sunrise store on North University Drive. Police said surveillance video backed the older woman’s account and undercut Keri Estep’s claim that she was protecting herself and her baby. Estep was arrested in March, and the case now stands as a simple but stark example of how a routine dispute in a checkout line can turn into a criminal case involving an elderly victim.
According to police and the arrest report described in local coverage, the confrontation began in the afternoon at the Walmart at 3306 N. University Drive. The 79-year-old woman, whose name has not been released publicly, told officers that Estep accused her of cutting in line. In body camera video aired by WPLG, the older woman said Estep told her, “You cut in front of me,” and she replied, “No, I didn’t, there’s two lanes.” Police said the argument escalated from there. The older woman told officers Estep began “beating on” her, struck her in the chest and kicked her in the side or hip. The victim did not ask for medical treatment at the scene, but she told officers she wanted to press charges.
Investigators said store security staff saw the confrontation unfold and tried to stop it. A security guard told police he heard the verbal dispute and stepped in when it appeared to be turning violent. According to the complaint summarized by Law&Crime and Local 10, Estep claimed the older woman had hit or shaken her shopping cart while her baby was inside it. The older woman denied ever touching the cart. Police said the guard got between the two women, but Estep still managed to get around him and kick the victim. That account mattered because it gave detectives both a witness and store video to compare against the statements from each side. In the later body camera footage, the victim also said Estep called her an “old lady” and told her she “deserved it,” a remark that gave the case a sharper public edge once the video was released.
Police said Estep left before officers arrived, which pushed the case into a follow-up investigation instead of an arrest at the scene. By early March, investigators had identified her and tracked her down. Local 10 reported that deputies arrested Estep on a Wednesday afternoon in Broward County and booked her on a first-degree felony charge of aggravated battery on a person 65 years old or older. Law&Crime, citing the criminal complaint, reported that she later posted a $2,500 bond. Public reporting has identified her as a Lauderhill resident. Court coverage also named Broward County Circuit Judge Ernest A. Kollra as the judge presiding over the case. No public reporting reviewed for this article said the victim suffered major lasting injuries, but Florida law treats attacks on older victims more seriously, which helps explain why a brief store argument now sits in felony court.
Estep’s account to police centered on her claim that she was trying to protect her baby. Officers said she told them, after being advised of her rights, that she believed the older woman was acting aggressively toward both her and the child. That explanation did not hold up once detectives reviewed the store footage, according to the arrest report cited by local and national outlets. Local 10 reported that after watching the CCTV video, Estep acknowledged that her “perception of the events was inaccurate” and apologized for her actions. That detail is important because it shifts the case away from a murky he-said, she-said dispute and toward a record shaped by video, a witness intervention and a statement from the suspect herself. Even so, several details remain limited in public view, including whether prosecutors will pursue plea talks, whether the defense will challenge the video’s interpretation or when the next major hearing will be held.
The case also fits a pattern familiar to police and courts: low-level public disputes that flare fast, unfold on camera and leave behind a simple but damaging record. Here, the setting was not a bar, a nightclub or a road-rage stop. It was a customer service line inside one of the country’s largest retailers, with other shoppers nearby and a security officer close enough to intervene. That ordinary setting has helped drive the attention around the case. The public facts are not especially complex. Two shoppers argued over position in line and over whether a cart carrying a baby had been touched. One of them was 79. Police say the younger woman became physical. The body camera video then captured the older woman, still upset but composed, describing what had happened in plain language. The bluntness of that scene, more than any legal filing, appears to be what pushed the story beyond local crime coverage.
As of March 29, 2026, Estep had been charged but not convicted, and no publicly reported trial date or next hearing date had been widely listed in the coverage reviewed for this article. The next milestone is expected to come in Broward County court as prosecutors and defense lawyers decide whether the case moves toward plea negotiations, pretrial motions or a trial setting.
Author note: Last updated March 29, 2026.