Eaton Township Weis Markets shooting


In the early hours of June 8, 2017, employees at a Weis Markets supermarket in Eaton Township, Pennsylvania, United States, were stocking and closing the store for the night. Shortly before 1:00 a.m., 24-year-old Randy Stair barricaded the exits of the store and proceeded to shoot and kill three of his co-workers before fatally shooting himself.

Shooting

Stair arrived for his late-night shift at Weis Markets in Eaton Township, Pennsylvania, on the evening of June 7, 2017, during closing time at approximately 11:00 p.m. He proceeded to work in the store for approximately 1 hour, 40 minutes while he was blocking the emergency exit of all the doors.
Stair then went back to the crew area in the rear of the store, blocked the remaining exits, then locked the automatic doors at the main entrance to the store. He then pulled out two pistol grip pump-action shotguns that he had concealed in a duffel bag, and walked around the store and killed three employees: Victoria Brong, Brian Hayes, and Terry Lee Sterling. He then approached another coworker, Kristan Newell, who he decided to spare. Newell later recalled, "I heard what I thought was something popping and then a sound like something fell to the floor, so I turned around to see if Victoria had heard what I had heard, and she was on the ground and Randy was at the end of the aisle.... After he walked up the aisle, I saw Terry out of the corner of my eye, he was at the front of the aisle, and Randy came up behind him and I witnessed that too". Stair was seen on CCTV surveillance camera footage standing behind Newell as she worked for about five seconds before he 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, Newell was able to escape the store by removing the display at the entry doors and breaking the glass door. She hid and eventually managed to escape from the store and call 911.
After a short time, Stair concluded his shooting of the store's contents. Stair then went to the deli section of the store, and shot another group of items. Whilst Newell was on the phone to the police, Stair placed the loaded shotgun in his mouth and fired a single round through his palate, killing himself instantly. A total of 59 shots had been fired. All the shotgun rounds fired came from only one of the two shotguns he brought. Stair stated in his sixth "Suicide Tape" titled "06 The Plan" that the second shotgun was only for backup in case the first one experiences a malfunction, and he is unable to commit suicide.

Victims

Perpetrator

Randy Robert Stair, also known online as Andrew Blaze, was employed at Weis Markets for seven years and resided in Dallas, Pennsylvania, with his parents and brother. Prior to carrying out the shooting, Stair maintained a significant online presence, primarily through his YouTube channel, PioneersProductions, which he started in 2008, initially featuring short sketches and a collaboration with Ray William Johnson. By 2014, citing depression, he shifted direction to launch the animated series Ember's Ghost Squad, inspired by the character Ember McLain from the Nickelodeon animated series Danny Phantom. Stair acquired additional animators and voice actors in developing the series. He had consistently expressed his desire to be with the series' characters, especially Mackenzie West, who he believed to be his soulmate. He managed nine Twitter accounts based on the series' characters, where the accounts carried on conversions and shared links to journals and videos uploaded on MediaFire.
Stair had suicidal ideation due to McLain's death from arson and claims in one of his videos that McLain wanted him to commit murder because her "Ghost Squad more souls." He had fears of aging beyond his twenties, and struggled with gender identity. He admits in a video to his parents to have been cross-dressing on Wednesdays when them and his brother were out bowling, and wanted to undergo gender-affirming surgery. In Ember's Ghost Squad, Stair voiced Andrew Blaze, a self-insert character who was shown as female despite her masculine first name. Blaze used she/her pronoun and Stair claims that the character was who he truly is. Stair harbored a strong fascination with mass shootings, particularly the Columbine High School massacre. He openly revered Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, referring to them as heroes and expressing a desire to meet them.
During 2017, Stair has uploaded numerous videos documenting his plans and motivations. For instance, on May 11, 2017, he uploaded a video where he introduces his two pistol grip shotguns, Mackenzie and Rachael, and discuss his plans for the shooting. He also has documented about a coin flip which determine his decision to commit the shooting. On the evening of June 7, 2017, hours before the shooting, he uploaded his final video titled "The Westborough High Massacre/Goodbye". This video begin with him expressing his frustration over people involved with the video and misanthropist views, followed by a footage of him loading shotguns and him using one for target practice. The video features an animated sequence depicting Ember's Ghost Squad characters as school shooters turned into ghosts. Along the video, he sent out links to multiple files and videos, including his "Suicide Tapes", journal and a Microsoft Word document that listed multiple of his online accounts.

Aftermath

Though the shooting did not receive much attention outside of local news outlets, it did receive attention from parts of the media. On the evening of June 8, 2017, hundreds of people gathered at the Wyoming County Courthouse to hold a vigil to honor the victims, with eight pastors present. One of the pastors said the vigil was held to bring hope to those who were affected by the shooting. 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.
The shooting has been in the subject of mental disorders, as psychiatrist Matthew A. Berger spoke that many killers who commit suicide have unrealistic beliefs between fiction and reality, especially with younger people. Jeanne Rosencrance, who's the trauma services unit in the Lackawanna County district attorney’s office, note that Stair's gender dysphoria was his perceived grievance who due to the lack of help and acknowledgement, seek for revenge.

Weis Markets response

In reaction to the shooting, the Weis Markets store was closed. A Weis Markets spokesperson said, "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."
On June 14, 2017, Weis Markets announced the store would be reopened. The original storefront stayed intact, but the interior was gutted and remodeled with a new floor layout. On July 13, 2017, the store was reopened. Many people who lived in the area questioned why Weis decided not to relocate the store. In an interview with WNEP, some said they would not even enter the remodeled store due to the shooting. However, others accepted the supermarket chain's decision. One man said that it would have played into Stair's hands if the store relocate. He explained that Stair would want the store to relocate and be avoided in the aftermath of the shooting.

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