{"id":61781,"date":"2025-12-15T23:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T23:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/61781\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T23:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T23:04:08","slug":"lowes-could-have-prevented-june-worker-shooting-death-at-scranton-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/61781\/","title":{"rendered":"Lowe’s could have prevented June worker shooting death at Scranton store"},"content":{"rendered":"

The shooting death of an employee at Lowe\u2019s in Scranton<\/a> in June was \u201centirely preventable,\u201d but store managers ignored the shooter\u2019s escalating and \u201cdeep personal animosity\u201d toward the victim for more than a year, a lawsuit alleges.<\/p>\n

The suit filed by Keisha Moeller, the widow of shooting victim Jeffrey Moeller, accuses Lowe\u2019s of \u201cnegligence and recklessness\u201d for failing to protect her husband from fellow employee Christopher M. Wasnetsky.<\/p>\n

\u201cLowe\u2019s could have, and should have, prevented Mr. Moeller\u2019s death by simply ensuring that Mr. Wasnetsky would not encounter Mr. Moeller on its premises, by … separating them on different shifts or at different stores, or by termination of employment,\u201d Keisha Moeller\u2019s lawyers Joel Feller and Scott S. Berger Jr. of Ross Feller Casey LLP wrote in the suit.<\/p>\n

The suit was filed Monday in Lackawanna County Court. It seeks more than $50,000 in damages for Keisha Moeller and the Moellers’ three daughters.<\/p>\n

WVIA News emailed Lowe’s seeking comment but did not immediately receive a response.<\/p>\n

Wasnetsky charged with murder<\/p>\n

Police charged Wasnetsky with murder in the first degree. He remains in the Lackawanna County Prison awaiting trial in county court.<\/p>\n

Wasnetsky, 36, who lived in Dalton, called 911 to report shooting Moeller early on the morning of June 14, according to an arrest affidavit.<\/p>\n

“I would like to report a shooting at the … Lowe’s. I was the person that did it,” Wasnetsky said.<\/p>\n

Wasnetsky told police he bought a handgun a week earlier to shooting Moeller, claiming Moeller harassed him for months. He shot Moeller in the chest without warning and then twice more times in the head when Moeller asked for help so he wouldn\u2019t suffer, according to the arrest affidavit.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe unloaded the handgun which he left by the shopping cart he uses,\u201d city Detective Michael Schultz wrote in the affidavit. \u201cHe said he walked out the front door and was taken into custody.\u201d<\/p>\n

A ‘personal vendetta’<\/p>\n

Moeller, 44, repeatedly warned Lowe\u2019s managers that Wasnetsky had a \u201cpersonal vendetta\u201d against him, Wasnetsky\u2019s anger kept growing and \u201che needed to be kept away from Mr. Moeller,\u201d the suit says.<\/p>\n

It’s an issue his sister, Christina Moeller, also raised in a GoFundMe post days after his death<\/a>, when she said Moeller had complained to Lowe’s human resources about ‘troubling comments’ directed at him by Wasnetsky, but “nothing was done.”<\/p>\n

The suit alleges Wasnetsky admitted his anger toward Moller.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Wasnetsky told Lowe\u2019s management that he was so angry at Mr. Moeller that he was \u2018physically shaking with anger,\u2019 that he \u2018couldn\u2019t sleep … because he was making me so angry, that the personal animosity he had for Mr. Moeller was \u2018starting to affect my mental health,\u2019 and that he had \u2018to not be around him (Moeller) for my own mental health,\u2019\u201d the suit alleges.<\/p>\n

Before the shooting, store management \u201cacknowledged and understood that something needed to be done to protect the safety and wellbeing of Mr. Moeller,\u201d the suit says.<\/p>\n

\u201cLowe\u2019s egregiously ignored the danger posed to Mr. Moeller, recklessly gave Mr. Wasnetsky unfettered access to Mr. Moeller, failed to supervise Mr. Wasnetsky, failed to adequately protect Mr. Moeller, failed to secure its store and create an unsafe and hostile environment for Mr. Moeller that resulted in his horrific and painful death.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Christopher<\/p>\n

Scranton Police Department<\/p>\n

Christopher M. Wasnetsky of Dalton was charged by Scranton police in connection with the shooting of a coworker at Lowes on Viewmont Drive early Saturday, June 14.<\/p>\n

Suit: Wasnetsky emailed Lowe’s <\/p>\n

Before shooting Moeller, Wasnetsky emailed Lowe\u2019s. The email said Lowe\u2019s \u201ccould have prevented Mr. Moeller\u2019s killing,\u201d the suit says. It does not indicate how long before the shooting the email was sent.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn that single narrow point, Mr. Wasnetsky was correct,\u201d Berger and Feller wrote in the suit.<\/p>\n

The animosity stretched back to at least July 2024 when Moeller reported Wasnetsky \u201cangrily screaming at him.\u201d He told managers he had enough personal problems and because of \u201cWasnetsky\u2019s attacks, his stress and anxiety had been \u2018through the roof.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In January, Wasnetsky began complaining about Moeller, according to the suit, calling him \u201ca terrible person\u201d who \u201clost his chance\u201d and asking for Moeller\u2019s firing, according to the suit.<\/p>\n

The suit says Wasnetsky \u201cfabricated personal grievances\u201d against Moeller. He claimed Moeller went through his belongings and took things, hid keys for power equipment, parked forklifts to block him from moving through the store and changed the font size on his compute to annoy him.<\/p>\n

\u201cLowe\u2019s determined that none of these, and other of Mr. Wasnetsky\u2019s grievances, had merit,\u201d the suit says.<\/p>\n

Reasons for hate unknown<\/p>\n

In later conversations, Moeller told managers that Wasnetsky was consumed by his behavior and once drove a forklift dangerously close to him, the suit says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still to this day don\u2019t know what the hell I did to make him despise me,\u201d Moeller told a manager.<\/p>\n

In March, Moeller emailed managers to express \u201cdeep concern\u201d and \u201cserious safety concerns\u201d about Wasnetsky posing \u201ca significant risk to himself and others.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May, managers reassured him that Wasnetsky was not a danger.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Moeller would not have continued to work at Scranton Lowe\u2019s had he been told the truth and not had his safety mispresented by Lowe\u2019s management,\u201d the suit says.<\/p>\n

Waiting for the day<\/p>\n

Wasnetsky bought a 9mm handgun June 9, began practicing shooting in his back yard and took it to work with him for several days before the shooting, \u201cwaiting for Mr. Moeller to be on shift,\u201d according to the suit. <\/p>\n

According to the police affidavit, police said Wasnetsky told them he bought a handgun the week before the killing with the intention of shooting Moeller, who he claimed had been harassing him for months.<\/p>\n

On June 14, as Moeller drove a forklift, \u201cWasnetsky pushed his shopping cart up to (the) forklift, reached into the shopping cart and pulled out the 9mm handgun,\u201d the suit states. \u201cWithout saying a word, Mr. Wasnetsky walked up to within five feet of Mr. Moeller and opened fire, shooting Mr. Moeller in the chest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police said they reviewed surveillance footage that shows Moeller moving items with a forklift when Wasnetsky approached him, pushing a shopping cart. Wasnetsky can be seen shooting Moeller from about five feet away. When Moeller falls, Wasnetsky continues to shoot as Moeller is still moving around on the floor.<\/p>\n

The video then shows Wasnetsky get very close to Moeller and shoot him in the head, after which Moeller stops moving, the affidavit says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The shooting death of an employee at Lowe\u2019s in Scranton in June was \u201centirely preventable,\u201d but store managers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":{"0":"post-61781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-scranton","9":"tag-scranton-headlines","10":"tag-scranton-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}