(AP/WXYZ) — The Michigan Court of Appeals threw out a manslaughter charge against a Detroit gas station clerk who locked the door before an angry customer shot three bystanders, killing one.
Prosecutors have argued that clerk Al-Hassan Aiyash's actions make him criminally responsible. But the appeals court said an involuntary manslaughter charge doesn't fit.
It was “not reasonably foreseeable” that the customer, Samuel McCray, would pull out a gun and start shooting, the court said Wednesday.
WATCH BELOW: Detroit clerk who locked door before customers were shot will face trial
Aiyash was working behind protective glass at 3 a.m. when McCray's failed attempt to make a $3.80 electronic purchase turned into violence in May 2023.
Video showed McCray repeatedly cursing and insisting he was going to leave the gas station with the items. Three more people entered before Aiyash pushed a button to lock the door, keeping the four inside.
The door was eventually unlocked. But before anyone could leave, 37-year-old Gregory Karlos Samuel Kelly was fatally shot and two more were wounded.
“My child was locked in there, and he kept asking them to open the door, open the door, let him out of there. He didn’t want to be there with that," said Kelly's mother, Marilyn Fortner. “To say hey he (clerk) is not responsible for anything, are you kidding me? No, he kept them in as a hostage.”
Fortner was upset to learn the manslaughter charges had been thrown out and said she wants to see prosecutors file new charges in the case to hold the clerk responsible.
“I felt he was just as guilty as the shooter,” Fortner said of the clerk.
Prosecutors seeking to keep the case on track cited a groundbreaking 2023 legal precedent that cleared the way for charges against the parents of the Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley. Authorities said their son's actions were foreseeable.
The appeals court, however, said the Crumbley case is not a match.
“Holding a defendant criminally liable for a third party’s intentional misconduct remains the exception, not the rule,” the court said in a 3-0 opinion.
Fortner describes her son, who is a father of three with a degree from Wayne State University, as a people person who could bring a smile to anyone's face.
"We're having a real hard time without him," Fortner said. “I have three beautiful grandchildren who no longer have a father and they are really, really suffering behind it.”
The Detroit City Council has since passed an ordinance preventing clerks behind glass from locking the doors with customers still inside.
McCray, meanwhile, faces trial in October on murder and attempted murder charges.
