In the early morning hours of June 5, 2023, a dispute over a beef jerky product at a Mobil gas station in Detroit, Michigan, escalated into a fatal encounter for 25-year-old Anthony McNary. The incident, which occurred at approximately 3:05 a.m. at the station on Vernor Highway, involved McNary and the gas station clerk, Moad Mohamed Al-Gaham, who was 40 years old at the time.
The altercation began when McNary allegedly placed a beef jerky item in his pocket.
Al-Gaham confronted McNary, retrieved the item from his pocket, and returned it to the shelf. When McNary later attempted to purchase the beef jerky, Al-Gaham refused to accept his money and instead forced him to leave the store. After McNary exited, Al-Gaham locked the entrance doors, preventing him from re-entering. Shortly thereafter, from within the locked store, Al-Gaham produced a handgun, aimed it at the unarmed McNary's forehead, and fired a single, fatal shot through the glass door. Detroit police officers responded to the scene at approximately 3:14 a.m. and found McNary with a gunshot wound to his forehead. He was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Moad Mohamed Al-Gaham was arrested and subsequently charged by the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office with First-Degree Murder and Felony Firearm. He was arraigned on June 8, 2023, and remanded to jail. During legal proceedings, Al-Gaham's attorney claimed that he was only trying to scare McNary and that the gun had accidentally discharged. However, the judge noted that Al-Gaham was in a position of safety behind a locked door and had other options available to him, such as calling the police.
Ultimately, a jury convicted Al-Gaham of second-degree murder. On June 27, 2025, he was sentenced to 20 to 50 years in prison for the murder charge, with an additional two years for the felony firearm charge. Following the criminal proceedings, the family of Anthony McNary filed a $100 million lawsuit against ExxonMobil, the parent company of the gas station, holding them accountable for McNary's death.
