Eaton Township Weis Markets shooting

Eaton Township Weis Markets shooting
class=notpageimage| Location within PA / United States Eaton Township Weis Markets shooting (the United States)
Location	Eaton Township, Pennsylvania, United States
Coordinates	41.5291°N 75.9474°W / 41.5291; -75.9474
Date	June 8, 2017 12:57 a.m. – 1:01 a.m. (EDT)
Target	Employees at Weis Markets
Attack type	mass murder, murder-suicide
Weapons	Two pistol grip pump-action shotguns
Deaths	4 (including perpetrator)
Perpetrators	Randy Stair

In the early morning hours of June 8, 2017 the employees at a Weis Markets Supermarket in Eaton Township, Pennsylvania were stocking and closing the store for the night, when fellow employee Randy Stair, 24, killed three fellow employees and then himself.

Shooting

Randy Stair arrived for his late night shift at Weis Markets in Eaton Township, Pennsylvania on the evening of June 7, 2017 at approximately 11:00 p.m. at regular closing time of the supermarket. Stair then went to the back of the store to the crew area and blocked an emergency exit at the far back of the store. He then went to his duties, stocking shelves and cleaning up from the previous day. At 12:10, he sent out links to multiple files and videos which detailed his plans via his Twitter account, these files were labeled "Journal", "Suicide Tapes" and "Digital set".

Stair then went back to the crew area in the rear of the store, blocked the remaining exits, then locked the main automatic doors at the main entrance to the store. He then pulled out two pistol grip pump action shotguns. He walked around the store and killed three other employees. He then approached another co-worker, Kristan Newell, who had not heard the firing of rounds due to her listening to music with headphones while she was labeling items and stocking shelves near the rear of the store. Stair was seen in CCTV surveillance cameras standing behind the woman as she worked for about 5 seconds. Stair then proceeded to the next aisle.

After this, Stair proceeded to fire at glass and other merchandise in the store and shot multiple small portable propane tanks, which failed to explode. Around this time the woman took off her headphones; hearing the gunshots, she hid in the crew room and called 9-1-1. After a short time after Stair finished shooting items. He went to the deli section of the store and put the shotgun in his mouth and then killed himself.

A total of 59 shots were fired. All shotgun rounds came from one of the shotguns. The other was a backup shotgun.

Victims

• Victoria Brong, aged 26, a 2010 graduate of Tunkhannock High School and assistant tag manager for Weis Markets.
• Brian Hayes, aged 47, a husband, father, Navy veteran and Weis Supermarkets employee.
• Terry Lee Sterling, aged 63, boyfriend and father.

Perpetrator

The perpetrator, Randy Stair, 24 (September 17, 1992 - June 8, 2017), who called himself Andrew Blaze, worked at the Weis Markets for seven years prior to the shootings. Stair had kept detailed videos, recordings and journals leading up to the shooting, most of which he uploaded to Internet forums and social media just prior to the shooting. In these writings and videos he expressed the willingness and the wanting to commit suicide. Along with the fascination of death and suicide Stair also took a fascination with multiple mass shootings specifically school shootings particularly in Columbine High School massacre, Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the perpetrators of the attacks, Adam Lanza and Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. In his writings Stair even called Eric Harris a hero, and wished he could have met him. Stair also uploaded an animated sequence depicting him murdering students at "Westborough High" featuring the "Ember's Ghost Squad", an animated organization based off the Danny Phantom character Ember McLain, as well as assuming nine Twitter accounts based on his characters.

Video and audio recordings

In the weeks and months leading up the shooting Stair made several detailed videos and audio recordings explaining his plot of the shooting. He uploaded most of these items to MediaFire, a file-sharing website and then to his Twitter account. About a year before the shooting Stair began to record frequent vlog style videos, usually him sitting in his car. The videos were mostly rants and hate videos directed at society and some specific internet figures. These and the other videos were uploaded to YouTube after the shooting. Stairs Twitter account remains on the website and can be found by a typical Twitter search.

Personal

Stair was living in nearby Dallas, Pennsylvania with his parents and lived in Pennsylvania all of his life.

Reactions

The shooting did not receive much attention outside of local news outlets. However multiple Pennsylvania public leader expressed their sadness and condemned the shooters actions. Nevertheless, in reaction to the shooting, the Weis Markets store closed until July 13, 2017.

Notable reactions

• Dennis Curtin, Weis Markets spokesperson issued a statement saying "We are deeply saddened by the events of this morning. The safety of our associates, our customers, and the surrounding community is our top priority.”
• Tom Wolf, said "This a disgusting and terrible crime that didn't need to occur. Its a sad day for the commonwealth."
• Becki Hayes, the sister-in-law of victim Brian Hayes, set up a GoFundMe campaign to pay for immediate expenses. Hayes was also featured on Nancy Grace's podcast, "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace".

Store reopening and response

On June 14, 2017 Weis Markets announced the store will be reopened. The original store front stayed intact but the interior was gutted and remodeled with a new floor layout. On July 13, 2017 the store was reopened.

Community response

Many people who lived in the area questioned why Weis decided to not relocate the store. In an interview with WNEP some even said they will not even enter the remodeled store due to what occurred there.

However some in the community were okay with the supermarket chain's decision. One man said that it would have played into the shooters hands if the store had left. He said "The evil man who did this would have wanted them to move and would have wanted people to be scared and not want to go to the store after what he did."