Off-Book, Unlicensed Guards Shootings Increasing
Multnomah County OR March 3 2024
A 7-Eleven store that allowed a man to store a loaded gun behind the counter while getting paid off the books to provide security when he wasn’t qualified is liable for a 2022 fatal shooting at the business, a lawsuit alleges.
The family of Jason Kinsfather, who was killed at the store on Nov. 23, 2022, has filed a wrongful death and negligence suit against the store’s owner, Dalriada Enterprises, doing business as 7-Eleven.
The suit in Multnomah County Circuit Court seeks $3 million in noneconomic damages for the loss of Kinsfather, 49.
Stevie Rayven Moore, the alleged gunman and stand-in security at the store, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon and being a felon in possession of a firearm in Multnomah County.
Prosecutors contend Moore shot Kinsfather once in the abdomen after Kinsfather got into a dispute with the clerk of the 7-Eleven on Northeast Glenn Widing Drive near Portland International Airport.
Kinsfather died at the scene. Moore fled and was arrested days later in Vancouver, according to police and prosecutors.
The suit alleges the 7-Eleven store was negligent in allowing Moore to keep a gun in the convenience store, providing money to help the gunman buy the pistol that he kept at the store and allowing him to provide “armed security” though he wasn’t certified to do so.
“You had the gun in the store, you bear a high degree of moral and legal responsibility,” alleges attorney Greg Kafoury, who filed the suit against the owner of the 7-Eleven.
Naeem Khan, president of the store’s owner Dalriada Enterprises, did not respond to phone or emailed messages seeking comment.
The store clerk denied to police that Moore had any type of quasi-security employment arrangement with 7-Eleven, Multnomah County deputy district attorney Samuel Wilton wrote in a court memo.
Moore told police he was not at the 7-Eleven as a “security guard or anything because I’m not with a security company,” but said he was “the guy who could stand in front of the door” and “hang out and be a presence.” He also said he was expected to stop shoplifters, according to Wilton’s memo.
Moore had previously been fired from the store and was being paid with either money or food and drinks under the table in exchange for providing security, according to the lawsuit.
Moore had bought a Glock .22-caliber pistol from a friend for $160, and the store’s clerk had given him $150 toward the purchase, the lawsuit alleges. Moore kept the gun in a backpack behind the counter of the convenience store, according to the suit.
Kinsfather had gone into the store after his girlfriend had left and told him that she had gotten into a fight with the store clerk. His girlfriend had attempted to steal two quarts of motor oil, placed them in her purse and then went to pay for a soda, according to Wilton.
The store clerk saw that she was trying to conceal the oil and grabbed her backpack as she attempted to leave the store, according to the prosecutor’s memo. The two struggled over the backpack. The girlfriend struck the clerk in his groin, and the clerk slapped her, according to the prosecutor’s memo.
A security guard from Home Depot was at the store at the time and attempted to break up the fight. Kinsfather’s girlfriend handed over one of the two quarts of oil and left the store shortly after 9 p.m. She went to Kinsfather’s parked van and told him that the clerk just punched her.
Kinsfather then went into the store and threw a small black object at the clerk, according to the prosecutor. The clerk, in turn, grabbed a baseball bat and started to swing it but didn’t strike Kinsfather. Kinsfather was overheard telling the clerk that he’ll “see you outside,” once his shift is done, according to Wilton.
The Home Depot security guard once again attempted to calm Kinsfather, joking that he saw Kinsfather’s girlfriend moments earlier had “whooped” the clerk’s (expletive),” the prosecutor’s memo said.
As the Home Depot security guard talked to Kinsfather, Moore motioned to the clerk, who handed him his backpack from behind the counter. Moore then pulled the Glock .22 pistol from the backpack and pointed it at Kinsfather, told him if he was threatening the clerk that he was also threatening him, according to the prosecutor.
Kinsfather said something like, “that don’t scare me,” or “I don’t care about your gun,” and walked toward Moore. Moore was heard telling Kinsfather to back up, and as Kinsfather approached, Moore shot him once in the abdomen, Wilton’s memo said.
Both Moore and the Home Depot security guard ran off, as Kinsfather collapsed and died at the scene. He died from a single shot to the left abdomen, after the bullet cut two of his arteries, an autopsy found. Kinsfather had a knife in his pocket but never pulled it.
Moore claimed he acted in self-defense when interviewed after his arrest, but prosecutors say his account isn’t supported by witness statements or video of the encounter, according to court records.
According to the prosecutor, Kinsfather at most threatened to later fight the clerk but was not an imminent threat to Moore or the clerk.
Moore, in a sworn statement to the court last month, wrote that he was carrying the gun for his personal protection and had been homeless for more than 10 years, living on the streets in Texas, California, and Virginia before coming to Oregon.
He also wrote that a month before the shooting he was living in a tent that was set on fire while he was sleeping in it, and had seen numerous people “overdose, get stabbed, have weapons in their hands” when shoplifting from the 7-Eleven.
Moore is set to go to trial on June 24.
