A Pennsylvania man allegedly confessed in an email to human resources to fatally shooting his coworker while they worked an overnight shift at Lowe’s over the weekend.
Jeff Moeller was operating a forklift when we was fatally shot by fellow Lowe’s employee Christopher Wasnetsky, who was just feet away from him at the time, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Scranton Times-Tribune. Officers were responded on Saturday at 12:36 a.m., to a Lowe’s in Scranton, where they were able to quickly detain a suspect near the entrance, police said.
Inside the store, authorities found Moeller, a father of three, suffering from one gunshot wound to the head and another to his back. He was rushed to Geisinger Community Medical Center, where he later died from his injuries, police said.
According to the criminal complaint, it was also Wasnetsky who called in the deadly violence.
“I’d like to report a shooting at the Dickson City Lowe’s,” the caller said. “I was the person that did it.”
Wasnetsky also said he sent an email to Lowe’s management and human resources before the shooting, alerting them to the carnage he was about to carry out. He told authorities the victim had been harassing him and that no one would do anything about it — a sentiment echoed in both his confessions to HR and the 911 dispatcher.
Wasnesky also admitted to purchasing a Springfield 9mm handgun and practicing with it in his backyard, according to the criminal complaint. He said he’d planned to use it to kill Moeller, and then himself, adding that he blacked out before he could end his own life.
The Lowe’s store manager informed investigators Wasnetsky filed harassment-type complaints against Moeller and each complaint was investigated and unfounded, police said.
“The safety of our associates and customers is our top priority, and we are deeply saddened by this senseless act of violence,” Meagan Bernstein, senior director of external communications for Lowe’s Companies Inc., said in an email. “We’re working closely with law enforcement … as it’s an active investigation.”
Wasnetsky was charged with first and third-degree murder and is currently being held on no bail at the Lackawanna County Prison.
