Eaton Township Weis Markets shooting

Stair arrived for his late-night shift at a Weis Markets store in Eaton Township, Pennsylvania, on the evening of June 7, 2017, at approximately 11:00 p.m.^[1] He proceeded to work for approximately an hour and 40 minutes while blocking several emergency exits.^[2]

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,^[1] and walked around the store, killing three employees: Victoria Brong, Brian Hayes, and Terry Lee Sterling. He then approached another coworker, Kristan Newell, who he decided to spare.^[3] Stair was seen on surveillance camera footage standing behind Newell as she worked for about five seconds, before then proceeding to the next aisle.^[4]

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 managed to escape from the store and call 911.^[5]

After a short time, Stair briefly stopped shooting and went to the deli section of the store, before beginning to shoot another group of items. Whilst Newell was on the phone, 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.^[6]

• Victoria Brong, aged 25, assistant tag manager, shot 4 times.^[7]
• Brian Hayes, aged 47, night manager and United States Navy veteran, shot 5 times.^[8]
• Terry Lee Sterling, aged 63, shop assistant, shot twice.^[9]

Randy Robert Stair (September 17, 1992^[10] – June 8, 2017), also known online as Andrew Blaze, was employed at the Weis Markets supermarket for seven years and resided in Dallas, Pennsylvania with his parents and brother.^[6] 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 worked with a group of animators and voice actors in developing the series.^[11] He had consistently expressed his desire to be with the series' characters, especially one named Mackenzie West, who he believed to be his soulmate. He managed nine Twitter accounts based on the series' characters, where the accounts carried on conversations, as well as sharing links to journals and videos he uploaded on MediaFire.^[12]

Stair had suicidal ideation due to McLain's death from arson, and claimed in one of his videos that McLain wanted him to commit murder because her "Ghost Squad [needed] more souls." He had fears of aging beyond his twenties, and struggled with gender identity. He admitted in a video to his parents to have been cross-dressing on Wednesdays when they 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 identified as female despite her masculine first name;^[11] Stair claimed that he believed the character was who he truly was.^[12] Stair harbored a strong fascination with mass shootings, particularly the Columbine High School massacre, and openly revered Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, referring to them as heroes and expressing a desire to meet them.^[11]

Throughout 2017, Stair uploaded numerous videos documenting his plans and motivations. For instance, on May 11, 2017, he uploaded a video where he introduced a pair of pistol grip shotguns, which he dubbed "Mackenzie" and "Rachael", and discussed his plans for the shooting.^[13] He also documented a coin flip which determined his decision to commit the shooting.^[14] On the evening of June 7, 2017, hours before the shooting, he uploaded his final video, "The Westborough High Massacre/Goodbye". This video began with him expressing his frustration over people involved with the video and his misanthropist views, followed by footage of him loading shotguns and using one for target practice,^[15] and 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 what he called his "Suicide Tapes", a journal and a Microsoft Word document that listed multiple online accounts.^[16]

The shooting garnered local and national media attention. 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.^[17] 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.^[18]

Stair's mental health issues have been documented by those within the profession. Psychiatrist Matthew A. Berger argued that many younger killers, like Stair, were unable to tell the difference between fiction and reality. Jeanne Rosencrance, involved with the trauma services unit in the Lackawanna County district attorney’s office, argued that the perceived lack of help and acknowledgement from others in dealing with his gender dysphoria led Stair to seek revenge.^[12]