A gas station clerk who locked a door during a dispute over a small purchase was charged with involuntary manslaughter Thursday after the uproar led to the fatal shooting of another man.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy filed the charge against Al-Hassan Aiyash, 22, of Hamtramck, in connection with the fatal May 6 shooting of Gregory Kelly, 37, of Detroit, who also was inside the gas station.
Kelly and two other men inside the gas station repeatedly pleaded with Aiyash to unlock the door and let them out, Worthy said.
Aiyash pushed a security button to unlock the door, but didn’t tell the men seconds before the shooting began, Worthy said.
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“The allegations of the defendant locking the door of the store and not heeding the pleas of the men to be released led to tragic consequences in this case,” Worthy said in a news release.
Aiyash was arrested Thursday by the Detroit Police Department and was expected to be arraigned Friday morning, Worthy said.
A gas station remains closed less than a week after a fatal shooting in Detroit, Michigan, on May 10, 2023. Authorities in Detroit say a man fatally shot another customer inside a gas station and wounded two more in a dispute over a small purchase. The clerk who was working is being charged with involuntary manslaughter for locking the door before the shooting. (AP Photo/Ed White)
It wasn’t clear whether Aiyash has an attorney who could comment on the allegations against him.
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The man who allegedly shot Kelly, 27-year-old Samuel Anthony McCray, has been charged with first-degree murder, two counts of assault with intent to murder, and three counts of felony firearm and felon in possession of a firearm.
The shooting occurred after 3 a.m. on May 6. McCray tried to leave the gas station with items worth less than $4 after an electronic purchase was rejected, but then Aiyash locked the door, the prosecutor’s office has said.
McCray threatened to shoot everyone inside the gas station unless the door was unlocked, according to witness David Langston.
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Langston told WJBK-TV that he begged McCray: “‘Please, man, don’t shoot us. We don’t got nothing to do with this.’ … And he started shooting.”
Langston, 37, and a 60-year-old man were wounded.
