DETROIT (WXYZ) — The suspect accused of killing a 37-year-old Detroiter and injuring two others faced a judge in court today.
Samuel McCray, 27, has been charged with murder and attempted murder for the triple shooting over the weekend.
In the meantime, the Mobil gas station on McNichols and the Lodge where the shooting happened remains closed. It was shut down because police say it was operating without a business license.
David Langston, 37, is one of the three victims in the shooting. He survived and is now missing his best friend, Carlos Kelly, who was also 37 years old. Langston spent Kelly's last moments with him early Saturday morning at the gas station.
He said they were about to purchase cigarettes when the gas station clerk accused another customer of stealing. Langston said that’s when the clerk hit a button which locked the gas station door and trapped the suspect and other customers inside.
Langston said the suspect then made a threat to shoot the other customers.
He recalled the suspect saying, “I’ma shoot everybody in here if you don’t unlock the door.'"
Langston continued, "I turn around and say (to the suspect), 'Please don’t shoot us, bro, we don’t got nothing to do with this.'"
He recalled his friend Carlos saying, "Man he ain’t gone shoot nobody. Man, unlock the door."
"But (Carlos) ain’t see that (the suspect) had a gun. Only I saw that he had a gun," he explained.
Langston said the suspect starting shooting him.
“He was already putting the gun to the back of my head. So, if I ain’t (put my hand up) I would have been dead," Langston motioned.
He said he moved his hand up to the back of his head which blocked the first bullet.
“Then he shot me three more times. The third time I fell," Langston described.
“I had to play dead. I played dead after he shot me the third time because I didn’t want him to keep shooting," he recalled.
Langston was shot in the hand, back and hip. Carlos Kelly was killed. Another customer, a 60-year-old man, was injured.
He said, “Then the clerk unlocked the door after he shot us. Why would you let him go?”
“Why would you unlock it? He ain’t go no more bullets," he said.
As 7 Action News interviewed Langston, some gentleman gathered outside of the gas station. After the interview, the news crew walked over and tried to find out who’s in charge to question them about allegedly operating without a business license and about the clerk locking the door.
One gentleman inside waved the news crew off. A gentleman outside at the pump said he was a technician and not part of the gas station ownership. He told 7 Action News the owner is busy in a meeting.
A different employee inside said the man at pump is the owner.
The sign on the door states the gas station is owned by SMM Investments. Business records show SMM Investments is registered to Mohammed Chahrour.
The technician got into a truck registered to a man with the same last name but a different first name.
7 Action News asked Langston what, if any, message he has for the clerk. He replied, "Man, you just took my heart away, bro. That was my best friend."
