DETROIT – A new video shown in court revealed how a situation at an ExxonMobil gas station escalated into a deadly confrontation through a locked door between the clerk and a customer in Detroit.
The incident occurred Monday (June 5) at 3 a.m. when the clerk shot and killed Anthony McNary, 25, after an exchange over a piece of beef jerky.
The gas station is back open, but the video shown in court revealed how the clerk who was locked inside the store shot and killed the 25-year-old man instead of dialing 911.
The clerk asked McNary to leave the gas station because he thought the 25-year-old was shoplifting.
McNary, wearing a mask on his face and a hood over his head, was loitering around the front of the store, causing the clerk to lock the doors.
It’s unclear why he was trying to enter the store after the incident, but it was clear that McNary was unarmed while pulling on the locked door.
The clerk, Moad Mohamed Al-Gaham, 40, told McNary to leave again, but the 40-year-old man pulled a gun and fired it through the glass, shooting the 25-year-old in the head.
Read: $100M lawsuit filed against ExxonMobil after man was killed in Detroit gas station shooting
In court, Al-Gaham’s attorney said he was just trying to scare McNary off and the gun accidentally discharged, but it is not a premeditated murder.
“Yes, judge, he shouldn’t have been pointing a gun to scare him, but this is what happens when guns are not used in a proper fashion,” said the attorney.
Judge Kenneth King said Al-Gaham never called the police to come to deal with McNary outside of the store as he was not a threat.
Al-Gaham was safe inside the locked store and had many options other than firing a shot at a man’s head.
“The defendant was behind a locked door with a phone, a gun and could have also gotten behind a bulletproof glass,” said King. “He had many options that he could’ve taken, but he chose a different course of action.”
Mcnary’s family has filed a $100 million lawsuit against ExxonMobil.
