Magistrate: Detroit gas station clerk escalated situation that led to shooting of 3 customers
Detroit — A gas station clerk has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of a customer by another customer, an unusual development that prompted legal experts to debate the strength of the case filed by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
The 22-year-old clerk, Al-Hassan Aiyash, is being held in the Wayne County Jail on $200,000 bond after he locked customers inside of a gas station earlier this month to prevent a possible shoplifter from leaving, escalating a situation that ended when three customers were shot, one fatally, prosecutors said at a Friday arraignment.
Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Anna Posigian said Aiyash locked three innocent customers inside of the Mobil gas station in the 12800 block of West McNichols in Detroit around 3 a.m. May 6 after Samuel McCray became upset that his credit card was declined for an approximately $4 purchase, prosecutors said.
For almost eight minutes, McCray became irate and the environment became “increasingly hostile” as the customers begged, pleaded and screamed to be let out. They offered to pay for McCray's $4 purchase of iced tea and donuts, Posigian said.
Aiyash then unlocked the doors but did not tell the customers he had done so, prosecutors said. About 15 seconds later, McCray shot the three customers, injuring a 37-year-old man and a 60-year-old man and killing Gregory Kelly, 37.
Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller wrote in a press release that Aiyash's actions were "grossly negligent." But legal experts disagree over whether the unusual decision to hold Aiyash criminally liable is likely to hold up in court.
McCray is charged with first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, felon in possession of a firearm and four counts of felony firearm.
Aiyash's attorney, Jamil Khuja, asked 36th District Court Magistrate Malaika Ramsey-Heath for a personal recognizance bond because he said his client was not a danger to the community or a flight risk. He said the prosecution's theory tries to hold Aiyash criminally responsible for a crime committed by someone else.
"When this happened, he's at work, he's by no means involving himself in any criminal activity. He's at work performing his job," Khuja said. "It's really not fair, while presumed innocent, to hold him in custody while (prosecutors) test out a legal theory that's never been done before. ... He was doing his job. Did he panic and act inappropriately in a way? Maybe, but that's the best they can argue here."
If convicted, Aiyash faces up to 15 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter in Kelly's death.
More than locking a door
Khuja said Aiyash locked the door and called police so McCray would not be able to leave before police came. Once officers arrived, he helped identify McCray so he could later be arrested, the defense attorney said.
"He's a young man, he panics in the situation," Khuja said.
Khuja said Aiyash is not a flight risk and lives in Hamtramck with his parents and four younger siblings, working at the gas station to help provide for the family. He said he understands Aiyash's judgment put other people in danger the day of the shooting, but it is unlikely for him to endanger others in the community if he were to be released.
"It wasn't just the locking of the door," said Ramsey-Heath, the magistrate, during Aiyash's Friday arraignment. "It was a participation in the escalation of this situation and then locking the door while people were begging to be let out. To me, the concerning thing is ... somebody getting away with $5 worth of goods … has now turned into a homicide."
Ramsey-Heath said Aiyash was the first person to reference a possible shooting, though she did not elaborate on that comment. She said she pulled that information from Detroit police's incident report, which transcribed a video of the incident.
"If somebody is saying that and locking numerous people in an environment and not letting them out, and then it escalates in the way that it did, I can't hear that and say there's no role in what happened," Ramsey-Heath said.
The magistrate said Aiyash's escalation of the incident concerned her and makes her worry about the community's safety if he were to be released on bond.
But Khuja said it's not uncommon for video not to line up with police reports. He said prosecutors only began treating Aiyash as a defendant after the shooting received media attention and after police got his cooperation.
"He wasn't armed. He didn't know the other person was armed," Khuja said. "He called police himself and wanted the man there until police arrived. They've been robbed over and over again at that gas station."
Ali Dagher, the attorney for the Mobil gas station, said the gas station's owner is devastated by what happened May 6.
"The owner reached out to the family of the victims and provided support to try to heal the great pain that has been inflicted on the families by a cold-blooded killer who took the life of Mr. Kelly and injured two other patrons," Dagher said in an email. The owner paid for Kelly's funeral expenses, and the gas station has been closed since the shooting "out of respect for the families and community," Dagher said.
Detroit's Buildings, Safety, Engineering, and Environmental Department closed the business because the city said it was unlicensed.
Novel, challenging case for both sides
Bloomfield Hills attorney Neil Rockind said he was not surprised to see this charge filed, especially because of what he called the unusual and egregious facts of the case. He believes more prosecutor's offices will be filing similar cases in the future against people who are suspected of having a facilitating role in the crime.
"This is one of the strongest cases we're going to see," Rockind said. "You have a really unusual situation where someone was in a position to do something — the clerk had exclusive control over the door, only he could open it — and he chose not to open it. … He was not holding the gun, but he may have been involved in lighting the match that lit the fuse."
The argument is similar to the case of James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of the teenage boy who shot and killed four classmates at Oxford High School in November 2021, Rockind said.
Someone else pulled the trigger, but the Crumbleys and Aiyash are charged as the proximate cause of their actions, he said.
But in this case, Rockind said, the clerk was watching everything happen in real-time.
"He has a hand in what's happening. Not just an indirect hand, he has a direct hand, a direct role," Rockind said. "That's a long time for the clerk to be able to process and analyze. … Why wouldn't you open the door?"
Detroit attorney Ray Richards wasn't so sure. He said this will be a challenging case on both sides. Usually, involuntary manslaughter is charged in cases where drunken driving, negligent use of a firearm or drag racing is involved, Richards said. This situation, where a crime is charged within another crime, is novel, he said.
To prove an involuntary manslaughter case, prosecutors would have to show Aiyash was grossly negligent, that Kelly died because of his actions, and that he did not have lawful jurisdiction to take Kelly's life, Richards said.
That will be hard to do in this case, he said. It may even be difficult to pass the preliminary exam standard, where a judge has to find there is probable cause that Aiyash committed the crime, he said.
"This case definitely isn't an everyday type of occurrence," Richards said. "I hate to say who is gonna win or lose, but I would say it's going to be very difficult for the prosecution."
Where Aiyash might really have issues is the civil side, Richards said, though no lawsuits have been filed.
"The fact that (a small amount of money) caused the clerk to restrict the movement of the individuals within the gas station and also the fact that they were allegedly begging to get out," Richards said. "Those facts in a civil case could go for a significant money judgment going forward.
“This case will be hanging around in the civil and criminal forums for quite a while.”
Bans on locking patrons inside businesses
In response to the shooting, Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield has requested the city's law department to review if an ordinance banning businesses from using electronic doors or locking patrons inside would be lawful. If not, she requested they provide other policy alternatives.
"In light of the horrific and senseless gun violence that took place at a Mobil gas station on McNichols on Saturday, May 6th, which resulted in the murder of Gregory Karlos Samuel Fortner-Kelly, who I knew personally and whose funeral I attended, and injuries to two other individuals that were held against their will, I am looking into the legality of an ordinance prohibiting businesses from locking citizens in establishments," Sheffield said in a Friday statement to The Detroit News.
"This entire incident, which involved a dispute over $3, could have been prevented, and it is imperative that safety measures are put in place to ensure this never happens again in the City of Detroit."
Detroit police Chief James White said he would support such an ordinance.
"Speaking as a law enforcement professional, I understand the need to be able to lock people from the outside coming in, but I see no logical reason a person needs to be locked inside for any reason without having the ability to get out," White said in a statement.
"If you're a gas station owner and you look outside and see two people coming toward the door with guns, you absolutely should be able to lock them out. But at that same entry point, if someone is inside, they should also be able to get out. So, if a door has the ability to lock remotely, there should be a clear override that would allow that door to be opened from the inside, and that override should be made clear to the customers, so they know they can get out in case of an emergency."
The station at the northwest corner of McNichols and the Lodge Freeway was closed Friday, although the lights were on. A yellow sticker from the Detroit Buildings, Safety Engineering & Environmental Department, dated May 6, was affixed to the front window stating that the station had been ordered closed because "this operation has no current business license from the City of Detroit to operate lawfully." The sticker ordered that the station remain closed until a proper license was obtained.
Jarrell Jackson, 22, lives on Appoline Street a few yards across the alley from the gas station. Jackson, who said he moved to the neighborhood about a year ago, said he frequently shops at the Mobil station, "although I don't go there without my gun." He added that he has a concealed pistol license to carry his Stoeger STR-9 9mm pistol.
"I had just left there a half-hour before that happened," Jackson said of the May 6 shooting. "There usually aren't a lot of major problems over there — just the usual stuff, people loitering around. But the people who work there have always been pretty cool. I've never had any problems with them."
Jackson said it's not unusual for Detroit businesses to be able to lock people inside.
"I always thought that was a thing, but I can see where it can cause a dangerous situation," he said. "In this case, it was supposedly over a couple of bucks. I mean, just let them go. It's not worth it."
kberg@detroitnews.com
Staff Writers Mark Hicks and Sarah Rahal contributed.