ExxonMobil faces another $100 million lawsuit stemming from Detroit gas station shooting
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) – A shooting stemming from a $2 piece of beef jerky may cost ExxonMobil $100 million.
Fieger Law has filed a lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court against the oil and gas giant after 24-year-old Anthony McNary was shot and killed by a clerk last month.
"Imagine your child being ripped away from you for something as simple as a piece of packaged meat," said McNary's cousin, Carla Hassan.
According to McNary's family, the 24-year-old offered to pay for a piece of beef jerky at the ExxonMobil gas station on Vernor Highway; however, the clerk, Moad Mohamed Al-Gaham, refused to take his money before turning to deadly force.
"There's no way in my neighborhood that I should go to a gas station, and I have to worry that if they think I'm doing something, they'll come from behind that counter and kill me," Hassan said.
Which is what they say Al-Gaham did.
After kicking McNary out of the store and locking the front doors, McNary allegedly pulled out a handgun.
"Aims it directly in line with Anthony's face and fires a bullet that goes through the glass into his head and fatally kills him," said James Harrington, managing partner of Fieger Law.
During Al-Gaham's arraignment for first-degree murder, the court learned he was involved in another shooting almost a year ago, allegedly over a fight with a customer who was standing too close to his car. A detail that Harrington says ExxonMobil and the franchise operator should have known.
"They don't care that they have no policies. They don't care that they don't have any procedures for training, for hiring, for making sure that the community is safe for which they do business," Harrington said.
Harrington says after filing the $100 million lawsuit claiming several counts of negligence, ExxonMobil sent a response saying they have no responsibility.
CBS News Detroit reached out to ExxonMobil for comment, but haven't heard back as of Wednesday evening.
"Anthony was unarmed, and this guy who works for this company just felt like he had the right to take that life away, and no one does anything about it. Who is in charge of setting the rules for them? Who is in charge," Hassan said.
This is the second lawsuit Feiger Law has filed against ExxonMobil involving a gas station shooting.
Back in May, a man was killed after the clerk locked several customers inside the store on West McNichols and the Lodge with the alleged gunman, who was threatening to open fire.
"It's just a matter of time before we're all back here again, and we're talking about the same thing, and when are we gonna say no when are we gonna say it's enough?" Harrington said.
McNary's family is simply shattered by his passing.
"My brother had an amazing spirit. He was so beautiful and just full of happiness and grace. I can't imagine my family and I living the rest of our lives without him," Nevaeh Dubose, McNary's sister, said.
