Global Courant 2023-05-10 06:01:07
A victim of a triple shooting Saturday at a Detroit gas station says the gunman warned a clerk during a dispute that he would shoot every customer in the store before opening fire.
David Langston says he begged the gunman “not to shoot,” who police say was angry in a dispute with the clerk over $3. He said his best friend, Gregory Karlos Samuel Fortner-Kelly, also the gas station clerk had begged to open the company’s locked doors and let them out before being shot. The doors remained locked and the gunman shot into the customers, Langston told Free Press reporter Jasmin Barmore, a friend of the victims. Langston, Fortner-Kelly and another patron were shot. Fortner-Kelly, 37, was killed.
The Detroit Police Department and the Wayne County District Attorney’s Office would not confirm or deny the details Langston provided to the Free Press Tuesday night. Attempts to contact the owners of the Mobil gas station on West McNichols Road near the Lodge Freeway were unsuccessful.
More: Man accused of murdering ex-girlfriend at Southfield hotel, shot dead by police
More: Eastern Michigan University graduate among 8 dead in Texas mall shooting
Gregory Karlos Samuel Fortner-Kelly, 37, of Detroit, was killed on Saturday, May 6, 2023, in a triple shooting at the Mobil gas station on West McNichols Road, near the Lodge Freeway in Detroit.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy planned to explain the case at a news conference Wednesday morning.
Detroit police on Sunday arrested a 27-year-old man suspected of the shooting.
Police said Monday the gas station was unlicensed and was closed by the Detroit Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department during the investigation into the shooting. Fortner-Kelly’s loved ones are distraught and angry at the death. He was the father of three children. His eldest daughter, 14, is about to graduate from high school. Before he was killed, Langston said it was Fortner-Kelly who tried to keep everyone from getting shot. “That’s exactly what kind of person he was,” said his childhood friend, Tihesha Redmond. “He’s always been a person who is there for everyone around him and takes care of them and makes sure they’re okay.” Fortner-Kelly was a graduate of Southfield High School and Wayne State University. According to Redmond, he had been a substitute teacher. He was an outgoing, funny, “comedy type,” Redmond said. “No matter what you’re going through, he’ll make you laugh.” “He was truly an angel on earth,” added his mother, Marilyn Fortner.
Free Press reporter Jenna Prestininzi contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Gunman shot customers at Detroit gas station after warning clerk, victim says
