Charging gas station clerk who locked doors in Detroit shooting a stretch, lawyer argues

Appearing before a judge via video feed from the Detroit Detention Center, looking pale and fatigued, Al-Hassan Aiyash listened quietly as a judge expressed concern over the 22-year-old gas station clerk's alleged role in a May 6 triple shooting that left one person dead and two others injured.

Aiyash pleaded not guilty Friday to involuntary manslaughter two weeks after locking three patrons inside a Mobil gas station on McNichols Road near the Lodge Freeway with the suspected gunman, Samuel Anthony McCray, 27, during an argument over less than $4.

Aiyash had locked the doors electronically in an attempt to prevent theft, and he eventually did unlock the doors, but Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said he did so too late, without telling anyone.

Video footage of the incident from behind the clerk's counter, reviewed by the Free Press, shows Aiyash had told patrons in the store to get out after unlocking the door several minutes into the dispute.

"Get the f--- on," Aiyash can be heard repeatedly saying in the video while shooing patrons with his hand.

But the enraged suspect soon gunned down the three other customers inside.

Gregory Karlos Fortner-Kelly, 37, of Detroit, was killed. David Langston, 37, and another customer, 60, survived their gunshot wounds. Langston told the Free Press that McCray warned he would shoot every customer in the store if the doors remained locked. McCray was charged last week with first-degree murder and several other charges. Worthy's office announced the involuntary manslaughter charges against the clerk Thursday evening.

More: Detroit gas station shooting victims were locked inside during argument between clerk and gunman

An attorney for Aiyash, Jamil Khuja, said the charge against his client is a reach by the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office and Detroit police.

"Their theory is to hold him responsible, criminally responsible for the intentional crime that's committed by somebody else who he does not know," Khuja said. "I've never seen this before."

Magistrate Malaika Ramsey-Heath of 36th District Court said Aiyash participated in escalating the situation and then locked the doors while people were begging and screaming to be let out.

Citing an investigative report from Detroit police and video evidence, Ramsey-Heath suggested Aiyash recognized the threat of a shooting before unlocking the doors.

"The first person that references a possible shooting is the person in front of me — that concerns me," Ramsey-Heath said, referring to Aiyash.

Wayne County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Anna Posigian said Friday that patrons of the store were locked inside for almost eight minutes, despite kicking, pushing, and pulling at the doors. Patrons even offered to pay for the ice tea and doughnuts McCray is accused of attempting to steal, Posigian said.

Still, the doors to the gas station were unlocked 15 seconds before McCray opened fire, she said.

Khuja argued that Aiyash did not know McCray had a gun. Aiyash had called police and locked the doors after McCray attempted to steal store items "so the thief can still be there when the police arrive," Khuja said.

Khuja said it was Aiyash who cooperated with police and helped them identify McCray. He argued that it was only after the case received heavy media attention that police decided Aiyash was also criminally responsible in Fortner-Kelly's death.

Khuja described Aiyash as a young man who panicked in the situation. He lives with his parents and four siblings in Hamtramck, and worked at the gas station to help provide for his family.

"I understand that people didn't react quickly enough, because (McCray) pulls out a gun and start shooting people instantaneously," Khuja said.

"He was just working there as a clerk to help provide for his family. He was doing his job. Did he panic and maybe act inappropriately in a way, maybe. But that's the best that (prosecutors) can argue here."

Aiyash was being held on $200,000 cash bond with a GPS tether and home confinement.

Community responds to shooting

Ali Dagher, an attorney for the gas station owner, told the Free Press the owner was getting ready to retire and was about to lease his business to new tenants when the shooting happened. Aiyash, he said, had started working at the gas station less than a week prior to the shooting.

The gas station has been in business in the community for over 20 years, he said, and is a partner with Detroit police's Project Green Light surveillance program.

At the time of the shooting, the gas station was unlicensed, prompting discussions within the community on business compliance and safety procedures at gas stations, including policies that ban clerks from locking patrons inside.

Dagher said his client had taken all the necessary steps to renew the license prior to the shooting. But the state of Michigan, which collects the city of Detroit's income taxes, is not communicating with Detroit fast enough to indicate that his client had paid his taxes, Dagher argues, which is a requirement for a gas station business license.

The city has been sending his client bills that have already been paid, Dagher said.

Dagher said the gas station's owner hasn't been able to sleep since the shooting. He met with the victims' families at a local mosque and paid for Fortner-Kelly's funeral costs, according to Dagher.

Community members have gone to city council to voice support for a policy proposed by Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield and President Pro Tem James Tate that would prohibit electronic door-locking technology and would prohibit businesses from locking people inside.

Minister Teferi Brent, a community organizer, said he and others have been working with Tate on a business accountability ordinance for over a year and have been providing gas stations with customer service and community sensitivity training.

They are demanding that the inside of gas stations be closed after 11 p.m.

Brent said community organizers are also working on an Arab American and African American summit to address tensions between the two communities.

"Rest assured, we will make sure this brother and this incident will never be forgotten," Brent said.

Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. She can be contacted at 313-264-0442, asahouri@freepress.com or on Twitter @andreamsahouri.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Gas station clerk who locked doors in Detroit triple shooting arraigned