Detroit Gas Station Clerk Will Stand Trial In Deadly Triple Shooting

DETROIT — A judge on Tuesday ordered a man charged in connection to a triple shooting at a Detroit gas station in May to stand trial.

Al-Hassan Aiyash, 22, of Hamtramck, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, a felony with a maximum penalty of 15 years.

Judge Kenneth King said Aiyash "continued to pour gasoline on the fire" when he taunted and locked-in an angry customer who threatened to shoot up the gas station.

Prosecutors said Samuel Anthony McCray, 27, of Detroit, tried to make a purchase of less than $4 on May 6 at 3 a.m. inside a Mobil gas station on the 12800 block of West McNichols Road near the Lodge Freeway.

When the machine declined McCray's credit card, he became angry and tried to leave the gas station without paying, prosecutors said.

That's when Aiyash locked the doors, trapping McCray and three other men inside the gas station, prosecutors said.

McCray started arguing with the clerk and threatened to shoot all the customers inside the gas station if the clerk did not open the door, prosecutors said. Officials said the bystanders inside the gas station pleaded with Aiyash to open the door.

Aiyash did eventually press the button that unlocked the door, but he didn't tell the three victims seconds before McCray opened fire with a handgun, fatally striking one man and injuring two others, prosecutors said.

Officials found 37-year-old Gregory Kelly shot to death and two other men, ages 60 and 37, suffering from gunshot wounds inside, prosecutors said.

The two men were taken to a nearby hospital, where they were expected to be ok, prosecutors said.

"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," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said.

McCray was charged with first-degree murder, two counts of assault with intent to murder, three counts of felony firearm and another count of possessing a firearm as a felon.