Left inset: Christopher Wasnetsky (Lackawanna County Prison). Right inset: Jeffrey Moeller and his wife (GoFundMe). Background: Lowe's store where Wasnetsky allegedly shot Moeller to death (WNEP).
The wife of a man allegedly gunned down by his co-worker at a Pennsylvania Lowe's earlier this year is suing the company, accusing it of ignoring the "intensifying targeted personal animosity and harassment" by the suspect toward the victim.
Jeffrey Moeller, Jr.'s wife filed the negligence and wrongful death lawsuit against the home improvement company on Monday in the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas. Cops say 36-year-old Christopher Wasnetsky shot the 44-year-old Moeller to death on June 14 at the Lowe's near Scranton.
According to the suit, the company made a "conscious disregard" of Moeller's well-being despite "assurances from Lowe's management that they would take necessary steps to protect his safety."
From the suit:
For over a year before Mr. Moeller's entirely preventable death, Lowe's knew the following: that the eventual shooter, Christopher Wasnetsky, harbored deep personal animosity for Mr. Moeller; that Mr. Wasnetsky's personal vendetta toward Mr. Moeller was escalating, with Mr. Wasnetsky expressing to Lowe's management that his anger was intensifying, he was becoming increasingly unstable, and that he needed to be kept away from Mr. Moeller; that Mr. Moeller was concerned about the safety risk posed by Mr. Wasnetsky; and, that Mr. Wasnetsky's personal animosity created a hostile and dangerous work environment for Mr. Moeller.
Plaintiff lawyers from the Philadelphia law firm Ross Feller Casey wrote that for over a year, Moeller expressed "serious safety concerns" to his bosses about Wasnetsky's "targeted harassment" and asked they "take immediate action."
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Wasnetsky was not shy about conveying his disdain toward Moeller to management, saying he was "physically shaking with anger" and that he "couldn't sleep … because he was making me so angry," the lawsuit stated. The accused murderer said the tiff was harming his mental health.
"Prior to the shooting, Lowe's was fully aware of Mr. Wasnetsky's deteriorating behavior and escalating personal animosity, and Lowe's acknowledged and understood that something needed to be done to protect the safety and wellbeing of Mr. Moeller," plaintiff attorneys Joel J. Feller and Scott S. Berger, Jr. wrote.
What exactly precipitated the beef is not entirely clear. Wasnetsky accused Moeller of going through his personal belongings, parking a forklift to "block" him from moving from the store and changing the font size on a work computer "just to annoy him," the lawsuit said. But Lowe's management said the claims were unfounded, Feller and Berger said.
Moeller sent his bosses an email saying Wasnetsky posed a "significant risk to himself or others" based on his behavior which was creating a "hostile work environment."
Lowe's had several options to mitigate the situation, plaintiff lawyers wrote, such as changing shifts around so the men wouldn't see each other, moving Wasnetsky to another store or firing him. Yet they did none of that.
"Based on Mr. Wasnetsky's escalating conduct and statements, Lowe's and its managers knew or should have known that he was spiraling out of control and becoming increasingly unstable and dangerous toward Mr. Moeller; but, Lowe's ignored these red flags for physical harm to Mr. Moeller," the suit claims.
Lowe's released the following statement to local Fox affiliate WOLF.
"The safety of our associates and customers is our top priority, and we are deeply saddened by this senseless act of violence. Lowe's takes all safety concerns seriously and has been fully cooperating with local law enforcement in their investigation. Because this is now active litigation, we do not plan to comment further on the lawsuit."
As Law&Crime previously reported, Wasnetsky wrote an email to human resources before the shooting to say he would not have killed Moeller had they addressed his previous complaints against the victim, according to a criminal complaint obtained by local ABC affiliate WNEP and the Scranton Times-Tribune.
Wasnetsky stands accused of first- and third-degree murder in Moeller's death.
Scranton police responded to the Lowe's on Viewmont Drive around 12:30 a.m. on the day in question. Officers found Moeller lying in a pool of blood. He was suffering from two gunshots to the head and one to the back, the complaint said. Paramedics rushed Moeller to the hospital, where he died.
Cops apparently didn't have to wait long for a confession. After shooting Moeller, Wasnetsky is said to have called 911.
"I'd like to report a shooting at Dickson City Lowe's," he allegedly told a dispatcher. "I was the person that did it."
When the dispatcher asked why he pulled the trigger, Wasnetsky reportedly said it had to do with "months of harassment and other things." The store manager later told detectives they looked into Wasnetsky's complaints but found no evidence to back them up, according to the complaint.
Wasnetsky reiterated his beef with Moeller when talking to detectives.
"He said the victim, Jeff, had been harassing him over a period of time, and no one would do anything about it," police reportedly wrote in the affidavit.
He allegedly said he brought a handgun with him to work and planned on shooting Moeller before turning the weapon on himself. Wasnetsky reportedly told cops he had practiced shooting the gun in his backyard.
Detectives reviewed surveillance footage from the store that captured the shooting. Moeller was on the forklift when Wasnetsky allegedly walked up to him while wheeling a shopping cart. He pulled out a gun from the cart and shot Moeller from about 5 feet away, cops reportedly allege. Moeller fell to the ground and tried to crawl to safety, but Wasnetsky stood over him and fired more shots, per the complaint.
On a GoFundMe page, the victim's sister challenged the notion that her brother had been harassing Wasnetsky. Moeller had reported "ongoing concerns" with Wasnetsky to HR "multiple times."
"On June 14th, my brother Jeffrey's life was senselessly and violently taken from him," wrote Christina Moeller. "While working the job he was so proud of at Lowe's in Pennsylvania, he was shot and killed by a coworker — a coworker he had reported multiple times to Human Resources due to ongoing concerns. To our knowledge, the individual had been making troubling comments directed at Jeffrey. Despite Jeffrey's repeated reports, nothing was done."
A Lowe's spokesperson said in a statement to local media the company is working closely with law enforcement.
"The safety of our associates and customers is our top priority, and we are deeply saddened by this senseless act of violence," the statement said.
Moeller had been a stay-at-home dad for the three daughters he shared with his wife. Once the girls were old enough for school, he took overnight shifts at Lowe's so he could still be with them during the day, his sister said.
"That's just the kind of man he was — loyal, dedicated, and full of love for his family," she wrote. "If you knew Jeffrey, you knew he had the softest heart & the loudest laugh. He & Keisha had recently reconnected with their faith, and he was planning to be baptized this Father's Day, alongside his daughters. He was so proud to be their dad, everything he did was for his family."
