Family Files Lawsuit against Lowe’s in Employee’s Death

Safety at Work

Scranton, PA (WorkersCompensation.com) – The family of a Lowe’s employee shot and killed on the job in June said in a lawsuit his death was “entirely preventable.”

Jeffrey Moeller was shot and killed by a coworker at the Scranton, Pa. store the two worked at. Keisha Moeller, his widow, filed suit against Lowe’s this month alleging that store managers ignored the shooter’s escalating and “deep personal animosity” toward Moeller for more than a year. The lawsuit accuses Lowe’s of “negligence and recklessness” for failing to protect Moeller.

According to Scranton police, Moeller and Christopher M. Wasnetsky were working at the Lowe’s early on June 14. Surveillance video showed Moeller moving items with a forklift when Wasnetsky, pushing a shopping cart, approached him. Wasnetsky then pulled a gun out and shot Moeller in the chest. When Moeller fell to the ground, Wasnetsky shot him several more times in the head and chest. Wasnetsky could be seen on the video shooting Moeller from about five feet away. After Moeller struggled to get away, video showed Wasnetsky get very close to Moeller and shoot him in the head. Following the last shot, Moeller stopped moving.

Wasnetsky then called 9-1-1.

"I would like to report a shooting at the Dickson City Lowe's. I was the person that did it," Wasnetsky allegedly told a 911 dispatcher.

Police said Wasnetsky left the store and was detained without incident when officers responded to the call. Officers found Moeller in a pool of blood with four shell casings near him. Moeller was transported to Geisinger Community Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Wasnetsky was taken to the Scranton Police headquarter and questioned. He told police he had bought a handgun the previous week and that he had intended to shoot Moeller after suffering from months of abuse from him.

Will Pennsylvania workers' compensation law bar the suit? Turn to Simply Research to understand the exclusive remedy rule in the Keystone State.

Wasnetsky was charged with two counts of aggravated assault.

In her suit, Moeller said Lowe’s failed to protect Moeller from Wasnetsky.

“Lowe’s could have, and should have, prevented Mr. Moeller’s 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,” Keisha Moeller’s lawyers Joel Feller and Scott S. Berger Jr. of Ross Feller Casey LLP wrote in the suit.

The suit seeks more than $50,000 in damages for Keisha Moeller and their three daughters.

Lowe’s said they had no comment on the lawsuit.

"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," a spokesman said in a statement.

According to the lawsuit, Moeller repeatedly warned his managers that Wasnetsky had a “personal vendetta” against him, that Wasnetsky’s anger was growing and that “he needed to be kept away from Moeller.”

Wasnetsky even mentioned his anger toward Moeller, the suit said.

“Mr. Wasnetsky told Lowe’s management that he was so angry at Mr. Moeller that he was ‘physically shaking with anger,’ that he ‘couldn’t sleep ... because he was making me so angry, that the personal animosity he had for Mr. Moeller was ‘starting to affect my mental health,’ and that he had ‘to not be around him (Moeller) for my own mental health,’” the suit alleges.

The store management “acknowledged and understood that something needed to be done to protect the safety and wellbeing of Mr. Moeller,” the suit said. However, Lowe’s ignored the danger and failed to supervise Wasnetsky or to adequately protect Moeller from him.

The lawsuit alleges that before the shooting, Wasnetsky emailed Lowe’s saying the store “could have prevented Mr. Moeller’s killing,” but the lawsuit does not say how long before the shooting he sent the email.

Moeller’s attorneys said the animosity between the two started in July 2024 when Moeller reported Wasnetsky had screamed at him. Moeller said his stress and anxiety were “through the roof” because of Wasnetsky’s attacks.

In January, Wasnetsky began to complain about Moeller, the lawsuit said, calling him “a terrible person” who “lost his chance” and asking for Moeller to be fired. According to the lawsuit, Wasnetsky “fabricated personal grievances” against Moeller claiming that 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 the computers to annoy him.

“Lowe’s determined that none of these, and other of Mr. Wasnetsky’s grievances, had merit,” the suit says.

Moeller told his managers he had no idea what he had done to make him angry. In March, he emailed managers saying he had “deep concern” that Wasnetsky “posed a risk to himself and others.”

Lowe’s managers told Moeller Wasnetsky wasn’t a danger.

“Mr. Moeller would not have continued to work at Scranton Lowe’s had he been told the truth and not had his safety misrepresented by Lowe’s management,” the suit says.

Wasnetsky purchased a handgun on June 9 and began to practice shooting in his backyard. Later, Wasnetsky began taking the gun to work, waiting for an opportunity to shoot Moeller.

“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,” the suit said.

Share This Article: