A Detroit gas station clerk who locked the door during a payment dispute with a customer before a bystander was fatally shot will stand trial for involuntary manslaughter.
A triple shooting left one dead and two injured at a Mobil station in the early hours of May 6, when clerk Al-Hassan Aiyash, who was behind protective glass, began arguing with Samuel Anthony McCray over a failed electronic payment. The argument intensified after McCray attempted to walk off with less than $4 worth of items and Aiyash locked the door to stop him from leaving.
McCray threatened to shoot everyone in the store if the door wasn’t unlocked, witnesses said. Seconds after Aiyash relented, McCray started firing indiscriminately. Gregory Kelly, 37, was killed and two others — Kelly’s friend David Langston and 60-year-old Anthony Bowden — were wounded. All three had pleaded with Aiyash to unlock the door.
McCray was arrested hours later and charged with first-degree murder, two counts of assault with intent to murder and three counts of felony firearm and felony in possession.
Later in May, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office argued Aiyash’s actions were “grossly negligent” and charged the 22-year-old with involuntary manslaughter in part because he did not announce he had unlocked the door before McCray started firing.
Langston and Bowden both testified at Tuesday’s pre-trial hearing.
The judge ruled Tuesday that Aiyash’s decision to lock the door “continued to pour gasoline on the fire” and contributed to the shooting.
“If not for the fact that he locked the door, none of this would have happened,” Detroit 36th District Court Judge Kenneth King said.
Aiyash faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison if convicted.